UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  DIEGO 


3  1822  01954  7504 


California 

egional 

tcility 


•\ 


Social  Sciences  &  Humanities  Library 

University  of  California,  San  Diego 
Please  Note:  This  item  is  subject  to  recall. 

Date  Due 

MAR  0  2  1996 

FEB  2  2  1396 

CI  39  (2/95)                                                                UCSDLi). 

BRART 

'SRS/TY  Of 
JFORN»A 

4  oiceo 


BY    THE    SAME    AUTHOR 


Aspects  of  the  Bible 

The  Jewish  Life 

The  Synagogue  in  Modern  Life 

The   Varied  Beauty  of  the  Psalmi 

The  Effects  of  Religion 

The  Faith  of  Israel 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

iJNIVERSlTY  OF  CAUFORNMSAN  DlEft 

"  JOLLA,  CALIFORNM 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFpRNIA,,Sf^  D'EGO 


,,,,,,,,,„ llllllllllL 

3  1822  01954  7504 


THE  ALLIED  COUNTRIES 
AND  THE  JEWS 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arcliive 

in  2007  witli  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/alliedcountriesjOOeneliala 


THE 

ALLIED  COUNTRIES 
AND    THE    JEWS 


A  Series  of  Addresses  by 
Rabbi  H.  G.  Enelow,  D.D. 


TEMPLE     EMANU-EL 

New  York 

1918 


"Remember  the  days  of  old,  consider  the  years 
of  many  generations." — Deuteronomy. 

"The  dense  web  of  the  fortunes  of  man  is  woven 
without  a  void." — Lord  Acton. 

"They,  hearing  History  speak,  of  what  men  were, 
And  have  become,  are  wise." — George  Meredith. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface  11 

I.     France  and  the  Jews 13 

October  6,  1917 

II.     England  and  the  Jews 23 

October  20,  191 T 

III.  Russia  and  the  Jews 37 

November  3,  1917 

IV.  Italy  and  the  Jews 49 

November  17,  1917 

V.     Palestine  and  the  Jews 63 

December  1,  1917 

VI.     America  and  the  Jews 77 

December  15,  1917 

VII.     The  War,  the  Jew,  and  the  Future 89 

December  29,  1917 

9 


PREFACE 


The  addresses  collected  in  this  little  book 
were  delivered  at  the  Sabbath  morning 
Services  of  Temple  Emanu-El  during  the 
autumn  and  early  winter  of  1917-18.  I  tried 
to  give  a  bird's  eye  view  of  the  relation  of  the 
Jews  to  the  several  countries  with  which 
America  is  now  associated  in  the  War  for 
the  defense  of  democracy.  Also,  I  tried  to 
point  out  how  intimately  the  advance  of 
democracy  has  been  connected  with  the  im- 
provement of  the  lot  of  the  Jew.  Forming 
part  of  Divine  Services,  the  addresses  had  to 
be  short,  but  I  hope  they  contained  enough 
to  illumine  the  subject  and  to  stimulate 
thought,  if  not  further  study,  as  well  as 
patriotic  action. 

In  the  present  form,  the  substance  is  of- 
fered of  the  spoken  addresses.  The  address 
on  Russia  may  seem  more  hopeful  than  the 
situation  today  would  warrant.  Right  now, 
unfortunately,  chaos  reigns  in  Russia,  and 
the  Jews  are  said  to  suffer  terribly.  Though 

n 


Trotzky  is  reported  to  have  renounced  all 
affiliation  with  the  Jews,  or  any  particular 
interest  in  them,  his  changes  of  fortune  are 
likely  to  react  upon  tlie  people  from  which 
he  sprang.  None  the  less,  we  nmst  not 
despair.  In  the  end.  Democracy  must  win  in 
Russia,  and  find  a  way  of  living  together  and 
working  together  for  the  numerous  racial 
and  religious  groups  which  form  her  vast 
population. 

I  wish  to  express  my  thanks  to  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  Temple  Emanu-El  for  their 
kindness  in  publishing  these  addresses  and 
for  generously  providing  a  special  number 
of  copies  for  distribution  among  Jewish  men 
in  our  Army  and  Na\'y\ 

H.  G.  E. 


Washington's  Birthday,  1918. 


12 


FRANCE  AND  THE  JEWS 

EVERY  American  is  now  more  than  ever 
interested  in  Europe,  and  especially  in 
those  countries  with  which  we  are  associated 
in  the  War.  France,  in  particular,  claims  our 
attention.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  as  Jews 
we  cannot  help  being  interested  in  the  rela- 
tion of  France  to  the  Jewish  people.  Many 
of  our  sons  soon  will  find  themselves  on 
French  soil  to  take  part  in  the  liberation  of 
France,  which  now  means  part  of  the  defense 
of  our  own  Republic.  Not  a  few  of  our 
women,  also,  will  be  there — are  there  al- 
ready, engaged  in  work  of  relief  and  restora- 
tion. It  is  but  proper  that  we  should  recall 
what  connection  has  existed  between  the  Jew 
and  France. 

France  has  played  an  important  part  in 
Jewish  history.  There  have  been  Jews  in 
France  from  earliest  times,  perhaps  from 
the  very  beginning  of  the  Christian  era. 

13 


About  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  we 
laiow  definitely  that  there  was  a  consider- 
able number  of  Jews  in  France  and  that  they 
lived  on  terms  of  friendship  with  the  rest  of 
the  population.  When  Hilary,  bishop  of 
Aries,  died  in  the  year  449,  Jews  as  well  as 
Christians  wept  at  his  funeral,  the  Jews 
chanting  Psalms  in  Hebrew.  From  that 
early  age  on,  France  has  been  a  most  import- 
ant factor  in  Jewish  history. 

The  conditions  of  life  for  the  Jew  have 
not  been  the  same  there  always.  There  is  the 
usual  story  of  vacillation  and  misfortune. 
France  also  has  had  her  periods  of  persecu- 
tion and  expulsion  for  the  Jews — particu- 
larly when  she  consisted  of  small  provinces 
and  factions.  There  was  the  usual  story  of 
malign  charges  and  disputations,  and 
Hebrew  books  now  and  then  were  confis- 
cated and  burnt  as  containing  attacks  on 
Christianity.  The  public  burning  of  the 
Talmud  at  Paris,  in  the  year  1242,  the  sev- 
eral expulsions  during  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, culminating  in  the  expulsion  of  1394 — 
just  about  a  century  before  the  expulsion 
from  Spain — are  among  the  tragic  incidents 

14 


of  medieval  Jewish  history.  France  did  not 
escape  the  rehgious  fanaticism  which  formed 
one  of  the  dark  features  of  the  middle  ages. 
But  all  in  all,  the  Jews  have  had  a  glori- 
ous history  in  France,  crowned  by  the  fact 
that  she  was  the  first  country  in  Europe  to 
give  full  civil  and  political  rights  to  the 
Jews,  as  she  did  during  the  Revolution,  on 
September  28th,  1791.  France  thus  inaugu- 
rated a  new  era  in  Jewish  history.  Indeed, 
she  thus  brought  about  the  modern  rebirth 
of  the  Jew — the  Jew's  full  entry  into  mod- 
ern life.  Therefore,  when  it  is  said  that 
every  man  has  two  countries — his  own  and 
France,  we  may  justly  apply  it  in  particular 
to  the  modern  Jew. 

Nor  was  the  leadership  of  France  in  the 
modern  emancipation  of  the  Jew  an  acci- 
dent. It  was  part  of  the  liberal  spirit  which 
has  found  varied  expression  in  France,  and 
which  could  not  ignore  the  Jew  and  the  mal- 
treatment that  was  meted  out  to  him  all  over 
Europe. 

When  Montesquieu  wrote  his  great  work, 
TJie  Spirit  of  the  Laws,  in  the  year  1748, 

15 


he  did  not  forget  all  the  services  that  the 
Jews  had  rendered  to  civilization,  nor  did  he 
fail  to  deplore  the  outrageous  way  the  Jews 
were  dealt  with.  The  Christians,  he  affirmed, 
were  treating  their  Jewish  neighbors  in  a 
more  inhuman  way  than  the  Japanese  of 
those  days  treated  the  Christians.  Readers 
of  Montesquieu  could  not  help  remembering 
that  remonstrance,  and  it  is  quite  likely  that 
Louis  XVI  was  inspired  by  it  to  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  Jewish  poll-tax,  as  well  as  to  the 
appointment  of  a  special  commission,  under 
the  presidency  of  Malesherbes,  for  the  study 
of  Jewish  conditions,  with  a  view  to  their 
improvement. 

But  it  is  not  commonly  known  that  about 
forty  years  before  Montesquieu  issued  his 
book,  there  appeared  in  France  an  epoch- 
making  work,  of  which  the  leading  Jewish 
historian,  Graetz,  has  well  said  that  it  rend- 
ered an  incalculable  service  to  Judaism. 

This  work  was  the  History  of  the  Religion 
of  the  Jews,  by  Jacques  Basnage  de  Beau- 
val,  a  celebrated  scholar  and  writer,  publish- 
ed in  the  years  1707-11.  It  marked  the  first 
attempt  to  write  a  complete  history  of  the 

16 


Jews  from  the  time  of  Christ  to  modern 
times,  and  was  designed  by  the  author  as 
a  continuation  of  the  historical  work  of 
Josephus. 

It  was  particularly  noteworthy  coming 
from  a  Christian  theologian,  seeing  that  the 
conventional  Christian  view  was  (and  often 
still  is)  that  the  Jewish  religion  really  ceased 
with  the  coming  of  Jesus.  Christianity  was 
supposed  to  have  abolished  and  eliminated 
Judaism.  Yet  Basnage  realized  that  the 
contrary  was  true.  Judaism  was  not  dead. 
The  Jews  were  still  alive. 

For  five  years  he  gave  himself  to  the  task 
of  collecting  material,  and  he  produced  a 
work  which,  whatever  its  shortcomings,  was 
remarkable  as  the  first  of  its  kind,  aside  from 
the  enormous  amount  of  scholarship  that 
went  into  its  composition.  But  there  was 
more  than  scholarship  in  the  work;  behind 
it  was  a  reahzation  of  the  marvel  of  Jewish 
history  and  resentment  of  the  brutality  with 
which  the  Jew  was  treated.  Let  no  one  won- 
der, said  the  author,  if  we  denounce  certain 
charges  made  against  the  Jew.  "In  the 
course  of  the  centuries  people  have  developed 

17 


a  spirit  of  cruelty  and  barbarism  toward  the 
Jews.  They  have  been  accused  of  being  the 
cause  of  all  calamities  and  charged  with  all 
kinds  of  crimes  which  never  entered  their 
minds.  Everywhere  they  have  been  mobbed 
and  massacred.  Nevertheless,  by  a  miracle 
of  Providence,  they  still  exist  today  every- 
where. The  bush  of  Moses,  encircled  by 
flames,  has  always  burnt  without  being  con- 
sumed." 

The  liberal  spirit  of  Montesquieu  and  Bas- 
nage  found  new  expression,  and,  we  may  say 
its  culmination,  in  the  men  of  the  Revolution. 
Mirabeau,  who  in  Berlin  came  in  contact  with 
Mendelssohn  and  got  to  know  Dohm's  fam- 
ous work  on  the  Civil  Improvement  of  the 
Jews,  issued  in  1781,  wrote  a  warm  plea  for 
the  emancipation  of  the  Jews,  under  the 
title  of  Mendelssohn  and  the  Political  Im- 
provement of  the  Jews.  His  plea  was  sup- 
ported by  Gregoire,  a  priest,  and  Duport,  a 
Jacobin  member  of  the  National  Assembly, 
and  it  finally  resulted  in  the  Assembly's 
abrogation  of  Jewish  disabilities,  and  the 
invitation  to  the  Jews  to  take  the  oath  of 
citizenship. 

16 


Thus,  on  September  28th,  1791,  the  Jews 
of  France  were  Hberated,  and  the  Jews  of 
the  world  celebrated  the  beginning  of  a  new 
era  of  freedom  and  of  the  opportunities  that 
are  bound  up  with  freedom. 

In  the  spiritual  history  of  the  Jew,  also, 
France  has  played  an  illustrious  part.  In 
the  middle  ages  there  was  no  country  where 
there  was  so  large  a  number  of  briUiant  and 
erudite  scholars,  and  so  energetic  an  activity, 
as  in  the  numerous  Jewish  communities  of 
France.  North  and  South  rivaled  each 
other.  Some  of  the  most  influential  Jewish 
teachers  of  all  times  came  from  these  French 
schools. 

Think,  for  instance,  of  R.  Gershom,  called 
the  Light  of  the  Exile,  in  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, who,  though  he  founded  a  school  at 
Mayence,  came  from  Metz,  and  continued  to 
di*aw  disciples  from  many  parts  of  France. 
He  was  one  of  the  chief  organizers  of  me- 
dieval Jewish  life.  He  was  the  first  to  pro- 
hibit polygamy  among  Western  Jews. 

Then  think  of  Rashi — the  greatest  of 
bibhcal  exegetes  and  commentators. 

19 


At  Vitry,  on  the  Marne,  was  produced  the 
most  important  work  on  the  Jewish  Uturgy, 
known  as  Mahzor  Vitry,  R.  Moses  of  Coucy 
compiled  the  most  popular  work  on  religious 
ordinances,  the  Seplier  Mitzwoth  ha-gadol. 

Thus,  we  might  go  on  and  name  the  illus- 
trious talmudists,  and  conmientators,  and 
philosophers  of  the  Jews  in  France.  Though 
each  possessed  his  own  characteristics  and 
merits,  we  may  justly  say  that  the  rabbis  of 
France  as  a  class  were  distinguished  for  that 
clarity  of  thought,  directness  of  expression, 
and  simple  piety  which  we  associate  with 
France. 

The  Provence,  too,  was  the  centre  of  the 
great  translators,  who  turned  the  classics  of 
Arabic  Jewish  learning  into  Hebrew,  and 
thus  made  them  accessible  to  those  parts  of 
Europe  unfamihar  with  Arabic.  Indeed,  to 
this  day,  thanks  to  these  achievements,  the 
spiritual  life  of  Israel  the  world  over  is,  con- 
sciously or  no,  under  the  influence  of  France. 

When  we  think  of  this  record,  we  shall  not 
wonder  that  the  Jews  of  France  are  devoted 
to  their  country  and  prominent  in  its  affairs. 

20 


It  was  this  very  prominence  of  the  Jews  that 
led  some  base  people  to  embrace  anti-Semit- 
ism, and  resulted  in  the  Dreyfus  scandal 
some  years  ago.  But  nothing  shows  the  char- 
acter of  France  so  clearly  as  her  readiness 
to  right  a  wrong.  In  tlie  Dreyfus  case,  too, 
she  made  a7nende  honorable^  and  today  Cap- 
tain Dreyfus,  the  martyr  of  Devils  Island, 
Major  Dreyfus,  as  he  is  now,  is  actively 
working  for  the  salvation  of  his  country. 

One  good  result  of  the  War  has  been  the 
cessation  of  anti-Semitism  in  France.  This  is 
demonstrated  by  such  a  book  as  M.  Maurice 
Barres's  Les  diverses  families  spirituelles  de 
la  France.  Formerly,  M.  Barres,  president 
of  the  League  of  Patriots,  as  well  as  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  writers  of  France,  was  an 
anti-Semite.  But  now  that  is  all  over.  One 
of  his  most  sympathetic  chapters  is  on  the 
Jews — on  their  loyalty  and  devotion,  and  he 
dwells  with  admiration  on  the  famous  inci- 
dent of  Rabbi  Bloch  of  Lyons,  who,  in  the 
early  days  of  the  War,  died  on  the  battle- 
field while  offering  a  crucifix  to  a  dying 
Catholic  soldier,  being  struck  by  an  enemy's 
shell.    "Here,"  he  says,  "fraternity  finds  its 

21 


perfect  expression.  The  aged  rabbi  offering 
to  the  dying  soldier  the  immortal  sign  of 
Christ  on  the  cross,  this  is  a  picture  which 
will  not  perish."  Nor  will  it  perish! 

A  long  history — full  of  heroism  and 
honor — links  the  Jew  with  France.  Let  us 
hope  that  the  future  may  add  to  this  splen- 
dor, and  that  France  will  ever  remain  the 
exemplar  of  hberty,  equality,  and  fraternity, 
and  that  she  will  continue  to  play  an  import- 
ant part  in  the  spiritual  as  well  as  the  secular 
life  of  Israel ! 


22 


II 

ENGLAND  AND  THE  JEWS 

AMONG  the  allied  countries  none  is  more 
l\.  influential  than  England.  It  is  per- 
fectly natural,  therefore,  that  the  name  of 
England  should  be  on  everybody's  lips,  and 
that  as  Jews  we  should  be  particularly  inter- 
ested in  the  relation  that  has  existed  between 
England  and  the  Jews. 

For  years  there  has  been  no  country  in 
the  world  whose  Jewish  population  had  en- 
joyed a  position  of  such  great  power  and 
prosperity,  and  such  perfect  recognition,  as 
Great  Britain.  Ever  since  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century  has  this  been  the  case. 
The  Jews  of  England  have  occupied  posi- 
tions of  honor  in  their  own  country  and  its 
colonies,  and  time  and  again  their  influence 
has  made  it  possible  for  them  to  come  to  the 
rescue  of  their  fellow-Jews  in  other  parts  of 
the  world,  as  happened,  for  instance,  at  the 
time  of  the  blood  accusation  in  Damascus,  in 

23 


1840,  when  Moses  Montefiore,  with  the  sup- 
port of  the  Enghsh  government,  saved  not 
only  the  Jewish  community  of  that  far-off 
city,  but  also  the  honor  of  Israel  the  world 
over. 

For  over  half  a  century  the  Jews  have  en- 
joyed such  a  condition  of  confidence  and 
happiness  in  England.  Only  the  other  day 
I  ran  across  in  a  German- Jewish  journal  of 
the  year  1866 — Samson  Raphael  Hirsch's 
Jeshurun — a  glowing  account  of  the  induc- 
tion of  a  Jew  into  the  office  of  Lord  Mayor 
of  London.  It  referred  to  Benjamin  Philips, 
who  was  the  second  Jew  to  attain  that  honor. 
The  writer  was  greatly  impressed  with  the 
marvelous  pomp  and  grandeur  of  the  occa- 
sion, but  what  struck  him  above  all  was  this : 
that  though  the  newspapers  for  days  had  dis- 
cussed the  event,  not  one  of  them  singled  out 
the  fact  that  the  new  Lord  Mayor  was  a 
Jew.  Such  perfect  naturalization  of  the 
Jew  obtained  already  in  the  year  1865, 
though  it  was  only  five  years  after  the  com- 
plete removal  of  Jewish  disabilities  in  Eng- 
land. So  much  more  a  surprise  might  it  be 
to  learn  by  what  a  slow  and  laborious  pro- 

24 


cess  the  Jew  won  his  recognition  in  England, 
how  many  centuries  the  struggle  for  his 
emancipation  consumed,  and  that  there  was 
a  time  when  the  Jews  of  England  suffered 
humiliation  and  persecution  unsurpassed  in 
any  other  part  of  the  world. 

As  we  take  a  bird's  eye  view  of  Israel's  his- 
tory in  England,  we  see  at  once  that  it  falls 
into  three  distinct  periods. 

There  is  the  first  period,  lasting  from  the 
arrival  of  the  first  Jewish  settlers  who  fol- 
lowed William  the  Conqueror  from  the  Con- 
tinent, to  the  expulsion.  Who  would  believe 
today  that  there  was  a  time  when  England 
expelled  all  her  Jews?  Yet,  this  is  what  hap- 
pened in  the  year  1290.  Moreover,  when  it 
did  happen  it  came  as  a  release  and  a  bless- 
ing, seeing  that  for  more  than  a  century  be- 
fore the  expulsion  the  life  of  the  Jew  in  Eng- 
land was  one  drawn-out  story  of  persecution 
and  every  form  of  misery.  It  was  a  century 
during  which  the  Jev/s  of  England  suffered 
the  worst  consequences  of  feudalism,  when 
they  formed  tlie  prey  and  the  sport  of  kings 
and  priests  alike,  and  when  they  added  to 

25 


history  some  of  tlie  most  tragic  chapters  of 
martyrdom  for  the  sake  of  faith.  It  was  a 
centmy  which  began,  after  a  period  of  com- 
parative security  and  happiness,  with  the  at- 
tack upon  the  Jews  of  Ijondon  and  the  pro- 
vinces, at  the  time  of  the  Coronation  of 
Richard  I,  because  the  archbishop  took 
umbrage  at  the  temerity  of  some  Jewish  de- 
legates to  the  ceremony  who  ventured  within 
the  purheus  of  the  cathedral  or  the  palace; 
and  with  the  self-immolation,  in  the  year 
1190,  of  the  whole  community  of  York  in  the 
tower  of  that  city — one  of  the  most  heroic 
incidents  in  all  history.  The  expulsion  thus 
closed  mercifully  the  first  period  of  Jewish 
history  in  England. 

Then  follows  the  period  of  the  re-admis- 
sion, in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, under  the  leadership  of  Cromwell  and 
Menasseh  ben  Israel,  though  one  is  not  to 
believe  that  in  the  interval  there  were  no 
Jews  in  England,  for  there  surely  were,  as 
recent  research  has  shown. 

Finally,  we  have  the  third  period,  which 
began  with  the  gradual  removal  of  Jewish 
disabilities  in  the  nineteenth  century.    Dur- 

26 


ing  this  period  we  witness  the  Jews  of  Eng- 
land taking  full  part  in  the  life  of  their 
country  and  reaching  that  present-day  posi- 
tion which  opportunity  and  complete  recog- 
nition and  integration  in  the  national  Hfe 
have  put  within  their  power. 

If  today  the  Jews  of  England  form  so 
integral  a  part  of  their  country,  and  if  they 
are  so  whole-heartedly  and  single-mindedly 
devoted  to  its  welfare,  it  is  not  merely  be- 
cause they  feel  that  they  have  wrought  and 
fought  enough  for  their  patrimony,  but  also 
because  they  are  conscious  of  their  long  as- 
sociation with  England  and  her  civilization, 
and  of  the  fact  that  their  beginnings  on  Eng- 
lish soil  go  back  to  earliest  times,  to  the  very 
time  that  the  Normans  came  to  their  shores 
and  WilHam  the  Conqueror  invited  the  Jew 
to  follow  him  to  his  new  domain. 

Yet  it  would  be  an  error  to  suppose  that 
the  emancipation  and  the  attainments  of  the 
Jews  in  England  were  due  to  mere  accident. 
Rather  have  they  been  due  to  certain  char- 
acteristics of  the  English  people,  and  to  those 
tendencies  and  qualities  of  English  civiliza- 

27 


tion  which  have  made  it  so  distinguished  and 
potent  in  the  world.  The  rise  of  the  Jew  in 
England  may  have  been  slov/,  but  it  has  been, 
sure,  and  it  came  because  it  was  inevitable 
under  the  conditions  tliat  have  served  to 
make  England  herself  great  and  strong  and 
free.  It  is  these  facts  we  must  consider  if  we 
would  understand  the  ascendency  of  the  Jew 
in  England. 

First  of  all,  there  is  the  fact  of  England's 
democracy.  It  has  often  been  observed  that 
in  no  country  is  democracy  more  widespread 
and  secure  than  in  England.  One  thing  is 
certainly  true,  namely,  that  England  has  led 
in  the  democratization  of  the  world. 

And  nothing  is  more  potent  a  lesson  of 
history  than  that  the  Jew  has  always  been 
benefited  by  true  democracy.  There  have 
been  autocrats  who  have  been  kind  to  the 
Jews,  and  there  have  been  times  when  dem- 
ocracy has  betrayed  the  Jew;  but  these  are 
exceptions.  As  a  rule,  the  cause  of  Israel  in 
the  world  has  gone  hand  in  hand  with  the 
progress  of  democracy — of  true  democracy. 
Democracy  has  been  an  invariable  aid  to  the 

28 


Jew,  and  not  because  (as  practical  politic- 
ians assume  sometimes)  its  government  de- 
pends on  votes,  and  Jews  might  command 
votes;  not  at  all,  but  rather  because  under 
the  protection  and  in  the  atmosphere  of 
democracy  it  is  easiest  for  principles  to  be 
promulgated  and  for  ideals  to  penetrate. 
When  we  fight  for  the  cause  of  democracy, 
when  our  sons  are  preparing  to  shed  their 
blood  for  it,  when  we  are  asking  for  the  sup- 
port of  it  with  our  wealth  and  our  work,  let 
us  remember  that  we  are  fighting  also  for 
the  cause  of  Israel  in  the  world. 

That  is  why  the  great  movement  for  dem- 
ocratic freedom  and  justice  in  England  was 
bound  to  make  for  the  recognition  and  lib- 
eration of  the  Jewish  soul.  That  is  why 
'  Cromwell  became  a  champion  of  the  re-ad- 
mission of  the  Jews  to  England,  and 
namely,  of  their  re-admission  on  the  most 
honorable  terms,  and  not,  as  some  of  his 
associates  would  have  it,  surreptitiously  and 
half-heartedly.  Nay,  that  is  why,  some  forty 
years  before  Cromwell's  effort,  in  the  year 
1614,  when  Leonard  Busher  wrote  his  note- 
worthy tract  on  "Liberty  of  Conscience",  he 

29 


demanded  that  such  hberty  be  extended  to 
all  alike,  including  the  Jews.  That  is  why, 
two  centuries  later,  Thomas  B.  Macauley 
could  not  help  pleading  for  the  removal  of 
the  disabilities  of  the  Jews,  as  he  did  in  1830 
and  1834,  supporting  the  noble  efforts  of 
Lord  Holland  and  Robert  Grant.  That  is 
why  Gladstone,  at  first  opposed  to  Jewish 
emancipation,  could  not  help  coming  over 
to  the  more  liberal  view.  It  was  impossible 
for  the  democratic  conscience  to  affirm  itself 
and  for  the  democratic  consciousness  to  grow 
in  England,  without  freedom  being  granted, 
and  justice  being  done,  to  the  Jew,  seeing  it 
is  for  freedom  and  justice  that  democracy 
stands. 

Another  fact  is  England's  interest  in  com- 
merce. It  is  well  known  that  commerce  has 
helped  make  England  great.  Now,  the  Jew 
throughout  the  ages  of  his  history  in  Europe 
has  been  one  of  the  most  important  factors  in 
commerce.  Everybody  knows  what  historic 
conditions  served  to  bring  about  this  result. 
The  fact  is  that  the  Jew  became  perhaps 
the  most  important  commercial  factor  of 

30 


Europe,  which  was  responsible  both  for  his 
prosperity  and  persecution. 

England  has  seldom  failed  to  recognize 
this  side  of  the  Jew's  hnportance.  This  is 
why  he  was  first  asked  to  come  to  England. 
This  is  why  he  was  so  often  traded  about  by 
the  feudal  kings.  This  is  why  they  hated  to 
see  him  go  even  when  they  mocked  and 
mobbed  him.  This  is  chiefly  why  Cromwell 
wanted  him  to  return,  and  it  is  fear  of  his 
commercial  power  that  often  arrayed  against 
him  his  opponents.  Often  short-sighted 
Englishmen  were  afraid  that  by  giving 
equality  and  rights  to  the  Jews,  they  would 
make  it  possible  for  the  latter,  by  their  com- 
mercial talent,  to  overwhelm  the  rest  of  the 
population  and  to  absorb  all  the  wealth  of 
Britain.  It  was  even  feared  that  the  Jews 
would  buy  up  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  and  turn 
it  into  a  synagogue!  "You  say  they  are  the 
meanest  and  most  despised  of  all  people," 
exclaimed  Cromwell,  at  the  Conference  on 
the  Re-admission  of  the  Jews.  "So  be  it! 
But  in  that  case  what  becomes  of  your 
fears?  Can  you  really  be  afraid  that  this 
contemptible  and  despised  people  should  be 

31 


able  to  prevail  in  trade  and  credit  over  the 
merchants  of  England,  the  noblest  and  most 
esteemed  merchants  of  the  whole  world?" 

Cromwell's  indignant  question  has  been 
justified  by  history.  Now,  years  after  their 
complete  emancipation,  the  Jews  have  not 
yet  appropriated  all  the  wealth  of  England, 
they  have  not  yet  dispossessed  the  rest  of 
Britain's  population,  nor  yet  has  St.  Paul's 
been  turned  into  a  synagogue.  At  any  rate, 
England's  interest  in  commerce  has  contri- 
buted greatly  to  the  ascendency  of  her  Jew- 
ish subjects. 

Finally,  there  is  the  remarkable  kinship 
between  the  English  spirit  and  the  spirit  of 
Israel. 

Leroy-Beaulieu,  in  his  celebrated  book 
Israel  among  the  Nations,  has  pointed  out 
that  the  claim  of  such  kinship  is  made  for 
many  nations  in  regard  to  Israel.  But  surely 
it  is  not  without  reason  that  some  one  has 
called  England  the  Israel  of  Europe.  There 
is  no  modern  country  that  has  been  saturated 
more  thoroughly  with  tlie  spirit  of  Israel 
than  England. 

32 


No  country,  for  one  thing,  has  been  so 
completely  influenced  by  the  Bible.  The 
English  translation  of  the  Bible  is  an  Eng- 
lish classic,  as  well  as  Jewish.  Insofar  as 
the  Puritans  molded  English  civilization,  it 
meant  the  introduction  of  a  strong  and  un- 
mistakable Hebrew  influence.  It  is  in  Eng- 
land that  Biblical  learning,  of  a  devout  and 
constructive  kind,  has  flourished  as  nowhere 
else,  there  that  a  society  for  the  diffusion  of 
the  Scriptures  first  was  founded,  there  that 
most  has  been  done  for  the  exploration  of 
Palestine,  there  that  some  of  the  finest  col- 
lections of  Hebrew  books  and  manuscripts 
are  found  (in  the  British  Museum  and  in  the 
Bodleian  Library  at  Oxford) ,  and  there  that 
even  rabbinical  learning  has  found  its  most 
earnest  and  sympathetic  devotees  among 
non-Jews. 

It  would  take  us  far  afield  to  trace  the 
relationship  between  the  English  spirit  and 
that  of  Israel.  But  we  cannot  think  of  it 
without  realizing  why  some  people  should 
believe  that  the  English  in  reality  are  des- 
cendants of  the  Ten  Tribes,  whj^  the  integra- 
tion of  Israel  in  English  life  should  have  be- 

33 


come  so  complete,  and  why  the  Jew  should 
finally  have  found  such  appreciation  and 
happiness  in  England. 

How  about  the  future?  What  effect  has 
the  War  had  on  the  position  of  the  Jew  in 
England? 

It  is  whispered  here  and  there  that  the 
War  had  created  an  increase  of  anti-Semit- 
ism in  England.  This  is  impossible.  It  is 
true  that  in  the  early  days  of  the  War  some 
sensation-mongers  tried  to  cast  aspersions 
on  the  Jews.  It  is  true,  also,  that  in  those 
days  a  serious  problem  was  created  by  the 
presence  of  many  Russian  Jews  who  would 
not  fight  for  the  old  government  of  Russia, 
thus  giving  rise  to  some  slurs  upon  the 
patriotism  of  the  Jews.  No  less  true  it  is 
that  some  few  fanatical  journalists  seem  to 
regard  this  as  a  good  time  for  creating  strife 
and  spreading  anti- Jewish  prejudice.  But 
the  futility  of  such  an  enterprise  is  self-evi- 
dent. 

The  Jews  of  England  are  as  loyal  as  tlie 
most  loyal.  Their  best  sons  were  among  the 
first  volunteers  and  martyrs.    Their  ablest 

34 


men  are  serving  in  all  sorts  of  positions  of 
trust  and  leadership,  and  are  occupying 
posts  of  supreme  responsibility  both  at  home 
and  abroad.  Nay  more,  each  and  every  one 
of  them,  however  lowly  and  obscure,  is  ready 
to  die  for  England  and  her  cause.  These 
facts  speak  for  themselves,  with  a  voice 
louder  than  fanaticism  and  bigotry. 

As  long  as  England  remains  true  to  her- 
self— to  her  democratic  spirit,  to  her  spirit 
of  enterprise  and  fair-play,  to  her  spirit  of 
Freedom  and  Righteousness,  as  long  as  she 
remains  true  to  that  genius  for  democracy 
that  has  animated  her  for  centuries,  that  has 
kept  on  asserting  itself  within  her  against  all 
handicaps  and  impediments,  that  has  kept  on 
moving  her  toward  the  democratic  goal  often 
in  spite  of  herself, — as  long,  I  say,  as  Eng- 
land remains  true  to  democracy,  so  long  will 
Israel  be  safe  and  happy  under  her  flag! 


35 


Ill 

RUSSIA  AND  THE  JEWS 

THE  ascendency  of  Russia  as  a  power 
making  for  democracy  is  one  of  the 
miracles  of  the  present  War.  Who  could 
have  foreseen  five  years  ago  that  the  country 
suffering  under  the  most  despotic  autocracy 
of  modern  times  would  so  suddenly  become 
the  champion  of  a  most  radical  democracy? 
Yet,  this  is  what  is  actually  happening  to- 
day. Notwithstanding  the  vacillations  and 
frightful  uncertainties  that  still  beset  Russia, 
she  seems  destined  to  play  an  enormous  part 
in  the  future  definition  and  direction  of  dem- 
ocracy, and  the  world  may  yet  learn  many  a 
lesson  from  her.  This  is  one  of  the  miracles 
of  the  War.  Under  these  circumstances,  we, 
as  Jews,  must  be  doubly  interested  in  the 
story  of  the  relation  that  has  existed  between 
Russia  and  the  Jews. 

Only  yesterday  the  name  of  Russia  was 
the  synonym  of  nothing  so  much  as  Jewish 

37 


suffering.  Persecution  has  been  the  well- 
nigh  universal  lot  of  the  Jew.  In  even  the 
freest  and  fairest  countries  he  has  had  to 
endure  outlawry  and  disabihty.  But  in  no 
other  country  was  he  called  upon  to  bear 
persecution  so  continuous  and  variegated  as 
in  old-time  Russia.  There  all  the  persecu- 
tions of  the  past  seemed  to  gain  repetition 
and  culmination.  Wherever  the  Jew  turned, 
he  found  himself  hedged  in  by  restrictions 
and  humihations.  His  dwelling,  his  educa- 
tion, his  occupations — everything  was  under 
the  ban.  For  centuries  he  was  driven  from 
pillar  to  post  and  forced  to  drink  the  cup  of 
calamity  to  the  very  dregs. 

When  we  think  of  all  the  misery  that  the 
Russian  Jew  had  to  undergo,  we  cannot  but 
marvel  that  he  should  have  been  able  to  sur- 
vive it  all,  and  thus  to  behe  the  prediction  of 
that  arch-enemy,  Pobiedonostseff,  that  as  a 
result  of  the  laws  against  them,  one  third  of 
the  Jews  of  Russia  would  emigrate,  one  third 
would  be  baptized,  and  the  rest  would  perish. 
Thank  Heaven,  the  contrary  has  come  to 
pass:  Pobiedonostseff  and  his  kind  are 
gone,  the  autocracy  is  dead,  and  the  Jew  of 

38 


Russia  is  still  there,  with  a  new  era  before 
him,  destined,  let  us  hope,  to  surpass  in  gran- 
deur and  glory  any  that  has  gone  before. 

When  we  consider  the  story  of  those  horri- 
ble persecutions,  we  jfind  that  the  chief  ex- 
cuse for  them  was  the  charge  that  the  Jew 
was  not  a  true  Russian,  but  a  stranger.  Yet, 
this  charge  was  fundamentally  false.  It  is 
only  necessary  to  think  of  the  Jew's  history, 
to  realize  that  he  is  as  little  a  stranger  in 
Russia  as  any  other  part  of  the  population. 

The  Jew's  beginnings  in  many  parts  of 
Russia  go  back  to  the  very  earhest  times — 
in  some  instances  beyond  the  records  of  his- 
tory. It  is  true  that  a  large  part  of  her  Jew- 
ish population  Russia  acquired  in  the  year 
1772,  and  subsequent  years,  as  a  result  of 
the  division  of  Poland.  But  in  other  parts 
of  Russia,  the  presence  of  Jews  is  of  much 
more  ancient  date. 

In  Kieff,  the  mother  of  cities  to  the  Rus- 
sian, Jews  were  settled  as  far  back  as  the 
eighth  or  ninth  century — some  holding  that 
they  came  there  with  the  Khazars,  who  are 
supposed  to  have  founded  Kieff.     In  the 

39 


centuries  following  the  Jews  worked  and 
traded  and  flourished  there  and  held  import- 
ant official  positions,  so  much  so  that  by  the 
sixteenth  century  Kieff  became  a  centre  of 
Jewish  learning,  with  the  motto:  "From 
Kieff  shall  go  forth  the  law." 

As  for  the  Crimea — the  beautiful  povince 
to  which  the  deposed  Czar  was  so  eager  to  be 
sent — its  Jewish  settlements  date  back  to 
Hellenic  days,  when  the  Greeks  began  to 
found  commercial  centres  on  the  shores  of 
the  Black  Sea,  and  Jews  from  the  Byzantine 
Empire,  as  well  as  from  Persia  and  the 
Caucasus,  came  along  with  them,  establish- 
ing communities  with  synagogues  and  ceme- 
teries and  other  institutions,  as  we  know 
from  recently  discovered  inscriptions,  which 
go  back  to  the  first  century. 

Similarly,  we  have  early  accounts  of  Jews 
going  and  coming  in  Novgorod  and  Moscow 
— Jews  speaking  the  Slavic  dialect  and  ante- 
dating by  many  years  those  from  Western 
Europe  who  came  to  Russia  as  a  result  of 
persecutions  in  Germany  and  elsewhere,  and 
who  brought  with  them  their  German  speech. 
When  we  examine  these  records,  we  can  see 

40 


how  ancient  is  the  Hneage  of  the  Jew  in  Rus- 
sia and  how  groundless,  as  well  as  vicious, 
was  the  theory  of  those  who  maintained  that 
the  Jew  of  Russia  had  to  be  repressed  and 
oppressed  for  the  reason  that  he  was  a 
stranger  in  the  land. 


^&' 


There  has  never  been  a  more  complete,  nor 
a  more  wonderful,  transformation  than  the 
one  wrought  by  the  Russian  Revolution  in 
the  condition  of  the  Jew.  One  of  the  first 
consequences  of  the  Revolution  was  the  abo- 
htion  of  Jewish  disabilities,  the  specific  abro- 
gation of  all  Jewish  restrictons,  the  repudia- 
tion of  all  the  laws  and  regulations  against 
them  that  centuries  had  accumulated — the 
instant  recognition  of  the  Jew.  It  is  noth- 
ing short  of  marvellous  to  think  that  today 
Jews  are  found  in  the  highest  positions  in 
Russia — in  the  Senate,  which  means  their 
Supreme  Court,  in  the  police  administration, 
in  the  army,  and  on  most  responsible  com- 
missions to  foreign  lands.  Magic  could  have 
wrought  no  more  marvellous  change. 

Yet,  it  would  be  wrong  to  think  that  all 
this  has  no  connection  with  the  previous  life 

41 


and  conduct  of  the  Jew  of  Russia.  On  the 
contrary",  the  student  of  the  history  of  the 
Russian  Jew  cannot  help  recognizing  the 
intimate  relation  between  the  life  and  the 
achievements  of  the  Russian  Jew  in  the  past 
and  the  recognition  that  has  come  to  him  at 
the  very  dawn  of  the  new  age.  Here,  too, 
there  has  been  no  exception  to  the  normal 
operation  of  historic  law. 

If  the  Jew  of  Russia  has  been  adopted 
so  promptly  and  so  fully  into  the  new-born 
Russian  democracy,  it  is  because  in  the  past 
he  has  shown  his  mettle,  because  his  whole 
record  has  demonstrated  his  civic  worth,  and 
because  his  character  and  his  attainments 
even  under  the  worst  possible  conditions 
demonstrated  what  he  was  capable  of  being 
and  doing  once  he  was  given  that  boon  of 
recognition  and  opportunity  which  it  is  the 
aim  of  democracy  to  bring  to  all  men. 

This  the  Jew  of  Russia  has  shown,  first  of 
all,  by  his  spiritual  Hfe.  The  Russian  poet 
Pushkin  has  said  that  glass  is  shattered  by 
blows,  but  iron  is  thus  made  the  stronger. 
This  saying  has  been  properly  apphed  to  the 

42 


effect  of  persecution  upon  the  character  of 
the  Russian  Jew. 

Nothing  is  more  remarkable  than  the 
spiritual  history  of  the  Jew  in  Russia.  The 
Russian  Jew  has  been  proud  of  his  Judaism, 
and  devoted  to  it.  Nowhere  else  do  we  find 
from  the  very  beginning  so  great  a  readiness 
to  propagate  his  ideas.  It  is  remarkable  that 
in  Russia,  of  all  countries,  we  find  the  Jewish 
influence  reaching  out  the  farthest  into  the 
non- Jewish  world. 

Nestor,  the  old  Russian  chronicler,  relates 
that  in  the  tenth  century  the  Jews  came  to 
Kieff  in  order  to  convert  to  their  rehgion  the 
Grand  Duke  Vladimir.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  Khazars,  a  people  Hving  in  southern 
Russia,  did  become  Jews  in  the  eighth  cen- 
tury, and  remained  such  for  a  couple  of  cen- 
turies. In  the  sixteenth  century  the  Judaistic 
sect  sprang  up  in  Novgorod  and  spread  to 
the  very  monasteries  of  Moscow,  and  in  one 
form  or  another,  in  spite  of  many  efforts  to 
suppress  it,  it  has  not  ceased  to  this  very  day. 
Perhaps  it  is  this  persistence  of  the  Jewish 
spirit  and  spread  of  Jewish  influence  that 
made  the  autocracy  fear  the  Jew  as  a  menace 
to  Christianity. 

43 


Even  more  important,  however,  has  been 
the  spiritual  life  of  the  Jewish  community 
itself.  It  has  thrived  despite  persecution.  It 
has  created  centres  of  learning,  scholars, 
saints,  and  above  all  masses  of  learned  and 
saintly  men  and  women,  which  both  in  num- 
ber and  character  have  never  been  surpassed 
in  the  whole  heroic  range  of  Jewish  history. 
It  is  this  spiritual  life  of  the  Jew  of  Russia 
— devout,  loyal,  God  -  intoxicated — that 
could  not  help  but  excite  the  admiration,  and 
ultimately  to  gain  the  recognition,  of  the 
world. 

Then,  there  is  the  contribution  that  the 
Jew  has  made  to  the  hfe  and  civilization  of 
Russia  and  of  other  countries.  One  of  the 
charges  of  his  enemies  was  that  the  Jew  of 
Russia  was  not  a  useful  subject — that  he 
was  a  menace  to  his  neighbors.  In  vain  writ- 
ers and  statesmen  of  enlightenment  sought 
to  expose  the  falsehood  of  this  charge;  in 
vain  they  insisted  that  whatever  was  wrong 
with  the  Jew  was  due  to  the  restrictions  and 
discriminations  that  were  placed  upon  him; 
in  vain  did  such  men  as  Count  Uvarov,  as  far 

44 


back  as  the  year  1841,  and  Alexander  Stro- 
ganov,  in  1858,  demand  the  creation  of  edu- 
cational f  acihties,  and  even  complete  emanci- 
pation, for  the  Jews  in  their  interest  as  well 
as  for  the  common  good.  The  dread  and  the 
tyranny  of  the  autocracy  could  not  be  over- 
come. 

Fortunately,  the  Jew  did  not  allow  him- 
self to  be  wholly  crushed  by  these  calumnies 
and  calamities.  He  went  on  using  his  powers 
to  the  utmost.  He  grasped  education  where- 
ever  he  could  find  it.  He  became  an  import- 
ant factor  in  the  literary,  in  the  artistic,  in 
the  musical,  in  the  commercial  and  industrial 
life  of  Russia — producing  an  Antokolsky,  a 
Rubinstein,  a  Frug,  the  Polyakoff s  and  the 
Ginzburgs,  and  no  end  of  others,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  vast  new  Hebrew  literature  he  has 
created,  including  the  names  of  such  genuine 
poets  as  Lebenson,  Gordon,  and  Byalik, 
while  the  rest  of  the  world  has  been  so  vastly 
enriched  by  the  work  of  Russian  Jewish 
exiles  that  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that 
they  have  covered  the  face  of  the  earth  with 
the  fruits  of  their  spirit. 


45 


Nor  must  we  forget  the  ineradicable 
patriotism  of  the  Russian  Jew.  Often  under 
the  old  regime  people  asked  how  it  was  pos- 
sible for  the  Jew  of  Russia  to  be  patriotic. 
The  answer  is  that  no  matter  what  made  it 
possible,  the  Jew  of  Russia  was  patriotic. 
Though  he  may  have  had  grievances  against 
the  autocracy  and  its  agents,  he  loved  his 
country  none  the  less  and  in  war  and  in  peace 
he  was  there  to  show  it. 

As  far  back  as  the  Russian  War  of  Lib- 
eration, in  1812,  the  Jew  so  distinguished 
himself  in  the  Russian  army,  that  he  evoked 
the  praise  and  satisfaction  of  Alexander  I, 
who  was  fortified  thereby  in  his  good  inten- 
tions toward  the  Jew ;  unfortunately  thwart- 
ed later  on  by  hostile  influences  and  religious 
apprehensions. 

Similar  patriotism  the  Jews  have  shown 
on  all  other  occasions,  including  the  present 
War.  As  for  the  fight  for  liberty  and  the 
Russian  revolutionary  movement,  the  Jews 
have  played  a  leading  part  in  it,  shrinking 
not  from  its  severities  and  hardships,  and 
this  they  have  done  not  only  for  their  own 
sake,  but  for  the  common  good. 

46 


Thus,  we  can  see  that  the  vindication  and 
recognition  of  the  Jew  of  Russia  today  are 
not  without  their  roots  in  the  hfe  of  yester- 
day. They  are  the  efflorescence  of  his  spirit- 
ual life — of  his  contribution  to  the  hfe  of 
his  country  and  other  countries — of  his 
inalienable  patriotism.  "The  Revolution," 
Kerensky  has  said,  "is  the  expiation  of  the 
past  and  its  sins."  It  may  well  form  such  an 
expiation  to  the  Jew ! 

How  about  the  future?  It  would  be  idle 
to  deny  that  the  peril  is  not  yet  past.  The 
Jew  of  Russia  is  not  yet  out  of  the  woods. 
But  neither  is  Russia  as  a  whole.  As  long  as 
reaction  and  anarchy  threaten,  there  is  dan- 
ger for  the  Jew.  But  in  this  regard  the  Jew 
of  Russia  must  take  his  chance  with  the  rest. 
His  fate  is  bound  up  with  the  complete 
triumph  of  democracy  in  Russia — dem- 
ocracy founded  on  self-disciphne,  self-sacri- 
fice, and  service,  toward  the  firm  estabhshing 
of  which  she  is  still  struggling.  If  we  would 
help  the  Jew,  we  must  do  what  we  can  to- 
ward the  help  of  Russian  democracy.  Let 
democracy  triumph  in  Russia,  and  it  will 
mean  the  triumph  of  the  Jew ! 

47 


IV 
ITALY  AND  THE  JEWS 

WITHIN  the  last  few  days  our  atten- 
tion has  been  focused  upon  Italy,  be- 
cause of  the  reverses  which  have  befallen  her 
army,  so  soon  after  its  notable  heroic 
achievements.  Knowing  the  innate  courage 
and  heroism  of  the  Italians,  we  must  hope 
that  their  military  misfortunes  are  only  tem- 
porary. Meantime,  this  situation  serves  to 
increase  our  interest  in  the  relation  that  has 
existed  between  Italy  and  the  Jews — a  ques- 
tion which  our  association  with  her  in  the 
present  world- struggle  has  brought  to  the 
fore. 

It  is  well  to  remember  that  the  Jewish 
community  of  Italy  is  the  oldest  Jewish  com- 
munity of  Europe.  Moreover,  if  the  origin 
of  the  Jews  in  other  countries  is  shrouded  in 
mist,  this  is  not  the  case  here.  The  full  light 
of  history  illumines  the  earliest  period  of 
Jewish  Hfe  in  Italy. 

49 


In  Taknudic  literature  we  read  of  the 
journeys  of  famous  rabbis  to  Rome  and  of 
their  activities  there ;  in  the  New  Testament 
we  hear  of  the  Jews  of  Italy,  and  of  their 
synagogues,  which  formed  the  scene  of 
activity  for  the  founders  of  the  new  faith ;  in 
Philo,  the  gi'eat  Jewish  writer  of  the  first 
century,  we  have  a  description  of  the  Jewish 
community  of  Rome  in  the  days  of  Augus- 
tus, with  references  to  their  communal  life 
and  religious  observances.  Similarly,  there 
is  an  allusion  to  the  Jews,  their  number  and 
their  influence,  at  Rome,  in  one  of  Cicero's 
famous  orations. 

All  this  teaches  us  in  unmistakable  lan- 
guage that  even  before  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era,  Jews  in  considerable  numbers 
estabHshed  themselves  in  the  capital  of  the 
Roman  empire,  and  that  before  long  they 
attained  to  a  position  of  marked  prosperity 
and  power,  thanks  not  only  to  their  own  in- 
dustry and  inteUigence,  but  also  to  the  good- 
will of  some  of  the  emperors.  When  Caesar 
died,  it  is  said,  the  Jews  kept  vigil  at  his  tomb 
for  three  nights. 


50 


But  the  history  of  the  Jews  in  Italy  is  re- 
markable not  only  for  its  antiquity.  It  is 
remarkable  also  for  its  uninterrupted  glory 
and  magnificence.  Italy,  it  has  been  said,  is 
the  one  country  in  which  there  has  never 
been  such  a  thing  as  Jewish  persecution  on  a 
large  scale.  In  England  and  in  France  there 
were  periods  when  the  Jews  were  banished. 
In  Italy  they  were  spared  such  a  wholesale 
calamity. 

This  is  not  to  say  that  the  Jews  of  Italy 
were  not  called  upon  time  and  again  to  face 
hardship  and  misery.  This  is  not  to  say  that 
now  and  then  one  city  or  another  did  not  try 
to  expel  them.  Nor  is  this  meant  to  cover  up 
the  fact  that  in  Rome,  from  the  year  1555  to 
the  year  1848,  the  Jews  were  made  to  live  in 
a  ghetto,  which  contributed  beyond  measure 
to  their  material  and  spiritual  degradation. 
In  Italy,  as  everywhere  else,  the  Jews  had 
more  than  their  share  of  sorrow  and  misery 
to  endure,  owing  to  the  fanaticism  of  popes 
and  the  vacillation  of  the  masses.  But  the 
one  thing  that  never  did  occur  was  a  whole- 
sale expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  all  her  do- 
main, similar  to  the  one  from  England  in 

51 


1290,  from  France  in  1393,  and  from  Spain 
in  1492. 

As  a  result,  the  history  of  the  Jews  of 
Italy  affords  today  a  record  of  uninterrupt- 
ed activity  and  glory,  extending  over  more 
than  the  entire  period  of  Christian  history. 
In  every  century  of  Italian  Jewish  history, 
we  find  men  and  movements  of  importance, 
bearing  witness  to  the  energy  of  the  Jew 
and  to  the  opportunities  for  its  exercise. 
And  this  long  period  of  the  past  is  worthily 
crowned  by  the  position  that  the  Jews  occupy 
in  the  Italy  of  today.  Though  their  number 
is  small,  there  being  but  about  forty  thou- 
sand of  them  in  Italy,  their  influence  is  strik- 
ing, seeing  that  in  every  sphere  they  have 
risen  to  exalted  positions,  unsurpassed,  in 
this  respect,  if  equalled,  by  their  brethren 
in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 

When  we  try  to  account  for  this,  various 
facts  have  to  be  considered.  First,  there  is 
the  condition  of  the  country.  Then,  the  char- 
acter of  the  people.  And,  finally,  the  part 
of  the  Jew  himself. 

52 


For  hundreds  of  years  Italy  was  broken 
up  into  many  independent  towns  and  rival 
principalities,  competing  and  contending 
with  one  another,  which  frequently  proved  to 
the  advantage  of  the  Jew,  who,  when  driven 
from  one  part,  found  refuge  in  another. 
Then,  the  Italians  have  always  been  known 
for  their  love  of  liberty  and  justice,  of  edu- 
cation and  enlightenment,  in  addition  to 
being  a  pre-eminently  practical  and  com- 
mercial people.  This,  in  its  turn,  could  not 
help  but  make  them  hospitable  to  the  Jews. 

But  all  this  would  not  have  availed  to 
make  the  history  of  Israel  in  Italy  illustrious 
were  it  not  for  the  Jews  themselves  and  for 
what  they  have  accompHshed  in  various 
spheres.  It  is  these  latter  things  particularly 
that  we  must  consider  in  a  survey  of  the 
Jew's  history  in  Italy. 

There  is,  first  of  all,  the  part  of  the  Jew 
in  the  commerce  of  Italy,  as  well  as  in  her 
industries. 

This  we  may  name  first,  because  history 
makes  it  quite  clear  that  the  Jews  were  first 

53 


welcomed  and  appreciated  in  Rome  and  her 
dependencies  and  neighbor-cities  because  of 
their  commercial  ingenuity  and  enterprise. 
Well,  there  is  good  reason  for  believing  that 
as  far  back  as  Augustus,  the  Jews  had  be- 
gun to  play  an  important  part  as  commercial 
factors  between  Italy  and  other  countries. 

In  the  middle  ages,  however,  they  became 
the  commonly  recognized  bankers  of  Italy, 
particularly  in  the  southern  parts,  so  much 
so  that  in  some  cases  the  Jews  were  even 
compelled  to  maintain  banks  and  in  some 
instances  their  doing  so  was  made  part  of 
diplomatic  treaties  between  cities,  as  when 
Venice  making  an  alliance  with  Ravenna,  in 
the  fifteenth  century,  it  was  stipulated  by 
Ravenna  that  the  Jews  should  conduct  a 
bank  there,  and  in  one  case,  at  least,  on  rec- 
ord, in  Gubbio,  a  Jew  was  paid  a  salary  by 
the  city  for  maintaining  a  bank.  In  this  way 
the  Jews  were  expected  to  contribute  to  the 
trade  of  the  town  and  the  relief  of  the  needy, 
though  in  the  course  of  time  they  were  called 
usurers  for  engaging  in  this  sort  of  business, 
and  it  was  made  the  cause  of  propaganda 
against  them,  and  of  persecution. 

54 


Nor  is  it  fair  to  suppose  that  the  Jews  of 
Italy  were  merely  engaged  in  money-lending 
and  commerce.  History  tells  us  that  they 
were  also  largely  represented  in  the  various 
trades  and  industries.  The  dye-making  in- 
dustry formed  one  of  the  chief  occupations  of 
the  Jews  of  Italy  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
In  Sicily,  documents  relate,  almost  all  iron 
workers  were  Jews.  In  Sardinia  there  were 
among  the  Jews  so  many  blacksmiths, 
locksmiths,  weavers,  and  silversmiths  that 
Ferdinand  the  Catholic  felt  impelled  to  make 
a  law  against  their  plying  their  noisy  trades 
on  Christian  holidays. 

It  is  hard  for  some  people  to  get  away 
from  the  notion  that  the  Jew  is  nothing  but 
a  merchant.  No  matter  how  much  they  hear 
of  tens  of  thousands  of  Jews  engaged  in  vari- 
ous trades,  to  the  extent  of  having  trade 
unions  of  their  own,  they  still  cling  to  their 
preposterous  notion  that  the  Jews  are  a 
people  of  merchants  only,  (though  every 
now  and  then  they  will  change  their  tune 
and  charge  all  Jews  with  being  socialists, 
which  certainly  is  not  the  special  character- 
istic of  merchants). 

55 


It  is  equally  wrong  to  assume  that  in  the 
Italy  of  the  past,  the  Jews  were  only  bank- 
ers and  merchants;  no,  they  were  also 
artisans,  engaged  in  all  kinds  of  trades,  in- 
cluding agriculture,  and  as  such  they  were 
of  vast  importance  to  their  country. 

If  the  Jews  of  Italy  are  said  to  have  in- 
vented the  letter  of  credit,  thanks  to  Jewish 
immigrants  in  Lombardy  possessing  valu- 
able interests  in  other  countries  from  which 
they  had  been  expelled,  and  thus  to  have 
added  an  important  instrument  to  the  con- 
duct of  commerce,  they  were  no  less  con- 
spicuous in  the  diverse  manual  occupations. 
And  the  Italians,  knowing  the  value  of  com- 
merce and  the  crafts,  stood  ready  to  appre- 
ciate the  worth  of  the  Jew. 

No  less  remarkable  has  been  the  spiritual 
history  of  the  Jews  of  Italy.  Macauley  de- 
picts the  Italians  as  possessing  a  spirit  so 
proud  and  fine  as  to  make  them  equally  emi- 
nent in  the  active  and  the  contemplative  life. 
Even  if  this  description  did  not  happen  to 
apply  to  all  Jews,  it  certainly  would  be  ap- 
plicable to  the  Jews  of  Italy.   What  would 

56 


all  their  distinction  in  the  industrial  and  com- 
mercial life  have  signified  if  they  had  failed 
to  maintain  their  spiritual  ideals?  As  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  it  is  herein  that  the  Jews  of  Italy 
have  been  especially  fortunate. 

From  the  very  beginning  to  this  day,  as  a 
French  writer  has  put  it,  the  fire  has  never 
died  out  upon  their  altars.  They  were  always 
among  the  leaders  in  Jewish  learning  and 
loyalty.  Their  rabbis  were  among  the  most 
famous  in  the  world.  Some  of  their  works 
are  among  the  great  classics  of  Jewish 
scholarship — such  as  the  Aruhh,  the  great 
Talmudic  cyclopedia  of  Rabbi  Nathan  of 
Rome,  or  the  Malmadj  the  popular  homiletic 
work  of  Rabbi  Jacob  Anatoh,  or  the  Mesi- 
loth  Yesharim,  the  celebrated  ethical  treatise 
of  Hayyim  David  Luzzatto.  Some  of  their 
poets  are  among  the  most  famous  and  per- 
manent, hke  the  satirist  Immanuel  of  Rome, 
said  to  have  been  the  friend  of  Dante. 

Perhaps  nothing  testifies  so  clearly  to  the 
intellectual  and  spiritual  energy  of  the 
ItaHan  Jews  as  the  promptness  with  which 
they  adopted  the  art  of  printing  and  the  vast 
number  of  Hebrew  books  they  issued  soon 

57 


after  the  invention  of  the  art.  The  first 
Hebrew  printed  works  appeared  in  1475-76, 
and  in  the  sixteenth  century  Ferrara,  Bo- 
logna, Naples,  Cremona,  Mantua,  became 
veritable  centres  for  the  publication  of 
Hebrew  Bibles,  the  Talmud,  the  Zohar,  and 
other  rabbinic  works.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  that  the  first  Spanish  translation  of  the 
Old  Testament  appeared  in  Ferrara,  and 
was  the  work  of  a  Jewish  exile,  who  by  the 
maltreatment  of  Spain  was  not  estranged 
from  the  love  of  her  language. 

Moreover,  the  culture  of  the  Jews  of  Italy 
even  centuries  ago  had  something  that  was 
lacking  among  their  contemporaries  else- 
where— it  had  breadth,  resulting  from  con- 
tact with  a  cultivated  and  enlightened  peo- 
ple. Some  of  the  foremost  rabbis  were  also 
physicians,  and  were  sought  as  such  by 
popes,  princes,  cardinals,  and  other  men  of 
distinction. 

Frequently,  we  find  Jewish  scholars  acting 
as  teachers  and  translators  for  eminent 
Christian  scholars  and  patrons  of  learning, 
as,  for  instance,  Jacob  Anatoli,  Leo  Modena, 
Ehjah  Levita,  and  others. 

58 


This  breadth  of  culture  is  the  reason  why 
some  of  their  finest  works  were  written  in 
ItaHan,  such  as  The  Dialogues  of  Love  by 
Leo  Hebreo,  in  the  beginning  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  and  several  of  the  rehgious 
and  ethical  treatises  of  such  celebrated 
scholars  as  Leo  Modena,  Samuel  David  Luz- 
zatto,  and  Eha  Benamozegh.  For  breadth, 
as  well  as  versatility,  the  products  of  Israel's 
spiritual  genius  in  Italy  have  never  been  ex- 
celled. 

Finally,  one  cannot  study  the  history  of 
the  Jew  in  Italy  without  realizing  the  depth 
and  ardor  of  his  patriotism.  "From  the 
lowest  to  the  highest,"  an  ItaHan  writer  has 
said,  "the  ItaHan  is  always  a  patriot."  This 
certainly  may  be  affirmed  of  the  Italian  Jew. 
He  has  always  stood  for  Italy,  and  been 
ready  to  defend  her  with  his  blood. 

When  in  the  year  536,  BeHzar,  the  com- 
mander of  Justinian  I,  besieged  Naples,  it 
was  the  Jews  who  opposed  the  sm'render  of 
the  city,  and  offered  not  only  to  participate 
in  the  defense,  but  to  support  the  population 
with  money  during  the  siege.    To  them  was 

59 


assigned  the  defense  of  the  most  dangerous 
section  of  the  city,  facing  the  sea,  and 
when  the  city  was  captured  they  were  made 
to  pay  most  severely  for  their  patriotism. 
And  the  example  of  those  heroic  patriots  was 
followed  repeatedly  by  the  Jews  of  Italy. 
It  is  such  patriotism  that  made  them  defend- 
ers of  Rome  when  Louis  Napoleon  sent  an 
army  corps  against  it  in  behalf  of  the  Pope, 
and  such  patriotism  that  made  them  take 
such  a  prominent  part,  under  Cavour  and 
Mazzini  and  Garibaldi,  in  the  days  of  the 
Risorgimento,  in  the  struggle  that  led  finally 
to  the  emancipation  and  unification  of  Italy. 
No  wonder,  then,  that  Italy  had  no  sooner 
won  her  hberty  and  unity  than  she  paid  due 
tribute  to  the  patriotism  of  her  Jewish  citi- 
zens and  gave  them  that  complete  emancipa- 
tion to  which  their  whole  history  had  entitled 
them  and  for  which  even  some  of  the  most 
eminent  non-Jews  had  pleaded  for  many  a 
day — non-Jews  whose  spirit  of  justice  and 
freedom  was  sublimely  symboHzed  by  that 
noble  priest.  Father  Ambrosoli,  who,  in  the 
Passover  night  of  1848,  when  the  walls  of 
the  ghetto  were  demolished,  was  seen  amid 

60 


the  crowd,  holding  under  his  cloak  a  crucifix, 
which  he  was  ready  to  uplift  as  an  emblem  of 
love  and  brotherhood  in  case  of  any  hostile 
demonstration  against  the  Jews. 

What  good  use  the  Jew  of  Italy  has  made 
of  his  new-found  Hberty,  the  record  of  the 
years  since  1870  tells  eloquently!  In  the 
sciences,  in  the  arts,  in  philosophy,  in  public 
service — as  diplomats  and  ministers  of  State 
— in  every  sphere,  the  Jews  of  Italy  have 
become  an  honor  to  themselves  as  well  as  to 
their  country. 

In  Rome  you  may  see  today  a  beautiful 
new  Temple  erected  on  the  ruins  of  the  old 
ghetto.  In  the  vestibule  there  is  a  tablet 
commemorating  its  dedication,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  King  of  Italy,  and  reciting  the 
fact  of  its  erection  on  the  spot  where  form- 
erly stood  the  walls  of  the  ghetto.  When  I 
saw  it  several  years  ago,  I  was  deeply  im- 
pressed with  the  beauty  of  the  structure  and 
the  loyalty  that  reared  it  among  those  squalid 
but  historic  surroundings. 

This  Temple  is  a  symbol.  It  is  a  symbol 
of  the  ancient  character  of  the  Itahan  Jewry. 

61 


It  is  a  symbol  of  its  loyalty.  But  above  all, 
it  is  a  symbol  of  the  liberty  and  happiness 
that  the  advance  of  democracy  has  brought 
to  the  Jew  of  Italy,  as  well  as  of  other  lands. 
It  inspires  us  with  the  hope  that  so  long  as 
Italy  remains  true  to  the  cause  of  democracy, 
which  is  the  cause  of  justice  and  enlighten- 
ment, so  long  will  the  Jew  be  free  and  safe 
and  happy  within  her  borders! 


62 


PALESTINE  AND  THE  JEWS 

ONE  could  not  read  without  a  thrill  the 
news  of  the  recent  advance  of  the  Brit- 
ish army  in  Palestine.  The  Holy  Land  thus 
is  gradually  passing  under  the  control  of  the 
Allies,  and  its  destiny  is  growing  of  particu- 
lar moment  to  everybody  interested  in  the 
outcome  of  the  War.  To  the  Jew,  however, 
this  becomes  a  particular  occasion  for  a  con- 
sideration of  the  relation  of  Palestine  to  the 
Jews. 

In  the  study  of  the  past  of  the  Jewish 
people,  we  come  across  different  countries 
that  have  played  an  important  part  in  Jew- 
ish history.  In  France,  in  England,  in  Rus- 
sia, in  Italy,  in  Spain — in  all  these  countries 
are  imbedded  important  parts  and  periods 
of  Jewish  history.  But  no  coimtry  can  com- 
pare to  Palestine  in  this  respect. 

In  a  way,  Israeland  Palestine  are  in- 
separable.   They  are  synonymous.    In  the 

63  ' 


Hebrew  tongue,  Palestine  is  called  the  Land 
of  Israel,  the  name  Palestine  having  been 
first  used  by  Philo  and  Josephus,  and  by  the 
Romans,  and  really  being  derived  from  the 
Philistines,  who,  in  ancient  times,  fought 
against  the  Jews  for  the  possession  of  this 
fertile  and  beautiful  country. 

It  is  true  that  after  the  destruction  of  the 
Jewish  State  by  the  Romans,  in  the  year  70, 
and  especially  after  the  failure  of  the  last 
struggle  for  independence  under  Rabbi 
Akiba  and  Bar  Kochba,  the  number  of  Jews 
in  Palestine  decreased,  and  their  part  in  it 
grew  less  and  less  significant. 

It  is  true  that  for  centuries  Palestine  was 
almost  emptied  of  Jewish  inhabitants,  and 
such  as  were  left  were  reduced  to  a  life  of 
penury  and  desolation.  It  is  also  true  that  in 
the  course  of  history  Palestine  has  changed 
masters  frequently,  having  been  in  the 
possession  of  the  various  Canaanite  tribes 
before  the  coming  of  Israel,  and  since  the 
fall  of  the  Jewish  State  passing  through  the 
hands  of  Romans,  Christians,  and  Turks. 
Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  no  less  true  that 
the  classic  period  of  Jewish  history  is  asso- 

64 


ciated  with  the  name  of  Palestine,  just  as  the 
classic  period  of  Palestine  is  indissolubly 
bound  up  with  the  name  of  Israel. 

Archeologists  may  unearth  in  Palestine 
remnants  of  a  civilization  that  antedated  by 
centuries,  perhaps  by  thousands  of  years,  the 
coming  of  the  Hebrews,  and  historians  may 
trace  the  fate  of  Palestine  since  the  banish- 
ment of  the  Jews,  from  Titus  to  the  Turks ; 
but  the  most  glorious  and  most  important 
section  of  the  story  of  Palestine  is  the  period 
of  its  occupation  by  Israel.  Similarly,  we 
may  relate  and  rejoice  in  Israel's  achieve- 
ments the  world  over,  and  in  the  wonderful 
capacity  the  Jew  has  shown  in  all  countries 
for  growth  and  grandeur ;  yet  none  can  deny 
that  the  paramount  period  of  Jewish  history 
coincides  with  the  Jew's  life  in  Palestine — 
where  his  character  developed,  where  his 
prophets  taught,  and  where  the  conscious- 
ness of  his  unity  and  eternal  purpose  took 
possession  of  his  soul. 

"Is  there  not  something,"  asks  Mr.  Watts- 
Dunton,  "in  the  very  soil  upon  which  we  are 
born,  in  the  very  atmosphere  above  it,  that 
aids  in  molding  our  characters,  if  not  our 

65 


destinies?"  In  the  case  of  Israel  this  question 
must  be  answered  in  the  affirmative.  Histo- 
rians agree  that  the  character  of  Palestine 
had  much  to  do  with  the  molding  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  Jewish  people  and  directing  its 
destiny.  Such  diverse  scholars  as  Solomon 
Judah  Rapoport,  the  celebrated  rabbi  of 
Prague,  and  Miss  Ellen  Churchill  Semple, 
the  eminent  American  representative  of  An- 
thropologic geography,  agree  in  this  view. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  we  have  a  right  to 
say,  with  the  ancient  rabbis,  that  Palestine 
and  Israel  are  inseparable. 

Moreover,  it  is  an  error  to  assume  that 
when  the  Jews  were  forced  to  leave  Pales- 
tine, first  by  the  Romans,  and  then  by  the 
various  foes  of  Israel  who  seized  it,  it  ceased 
to  play  a  part  in  their  hves.  There  are  those 
who  beheve  that  in  the  life  of  human  beings 
two  sentiments,  or  forces,  mean  a  great  deal 
more  than  the  actualities  of  the  moment, 
namely,  memory  and  hope.  How  often  do 
not  these  two — memory  and  hope — mean 
more  to  us  than  the  experience  of  the 
present? 
This  is  what  happened  to  the  Jew  in  regard 

66 


to  Palestine  after  he  was  driven  from  its  pur- 
lieus. He  kept  on  clinging  to  it,  as  both  his 
most  cherished  memory  and  most  precious 
hope.  It  was  the  favorite  theme  of  his  medi- 
tations. It  was  the  central  subject  of  his 
prayers.  It  was  the  inspiration  of  his  Muse. 
Never  poet  wrote  more  fervid  poems  of  love 
than  those  the  medieval  poets  of  Israel  ad- 
dressed to  Zion. 

Throughout  the  ages  Palestine  continued 
to  form  the  heart  of  Jewish  theology  and 
optimism.  Time  and  again  Rabbis  of  piety 
and  prominence  sought  to  make  it  anew  the 
centre  of  religious  scholarship  and  spiritual 
authority,  as  did  Rabbi  Joseph  Caro  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  and  though  they  failed, 
they  personified  the  Jews  undying  love  for 
the  Holy  Land. 

It  is  this  profound  and  indestructible  love 
that  Judah  Halevi  voiced  in  that  elegy  of 
wondrous  beauty  and  pathos,  which  burst 
from  his  soul  when,  as  an  aged  man,  having 
left  behind  him  all  that  was  dear  to  him  in 
his  native  Spain,  he  journeyed,  in  the  year 
1140,  to  Zion,  to  behold  her  desolated  beauty 
and  to  kiss  the  dust  of  her  stones.   And  this 

67 


love  has  been  shared  by  Jews  everywhere 
throughout  the  ages. 

"The  cradle  of  oui*  hves,"  says  Mr.  Watts- 
Dunton,  "draws  us  to  itself  wherever  we 
go."  This  has  certainly  been  true  of  Israel. 
The  cradle  of  his  history,  Palestine,  has 
drawn  him  to  itself,  wherever  he  went.  It 
remained  his  dream,  the  land  of  mystic  love 
and  longing,  and  as  such  it  was  even  more 
beautiful,  more  precious  in  his  eyes  than 
when  his  in  reality. 

It  is  remarkable,  however,  that  in  recent 
years  the  dream  again  has  begun  to  turn  into 
a  reahty.  After  a  forsaking  of  hundreds 
of  years,  with  but  scant  interruption,  Pales- 
tine again  has  become  a  centre  of  Jewish 
habitation  and  happiness.  The  story  of  this 
renewal  is  one  of  the  most  stirring,  and  most 
romantic,  in  the  variegated  history  of  the 
Jew. 

For  these  many  centuries  the  Jew  had 
dreamed  and  prayed  for  Palestine.  It 
had  been  the  theme  of  his  reveries.  But 
it  was  forty  years  ago  that  men  arose  and 
decided  that  the  time  had  come  for  mak- 

68 


ing  the  dream  come  true.  In  different  quar- 
ters the  plan  was  advanced  for  settling  Jews 
on  the  soil  of  Palestine,  in  order  thus  to  re- 
store the  ancient  land  and  also  to  help  solve 
the  problem  of  Jewish  persecution  and  dis- 
tress. It  is  noteworthy  that  among  the  pio- 
neers of  this  plan  were  not  only  Jews,  but 
also  Christians,  such  as  Warder  Cresson,  the 
first  American  consul  in  Jerusalem,  who  be- 
came a  convert  to  Judaism,  and  Laurence 
Oliphant,  the  English  philanthropist,  who 
was  unofficially  supported  by  Lord  Beacons- 
field  and  Lord  Salisbury. 

The  persecutions  in  Russia  and  Rumania 
emphasized  the  need  of  some  radical  measure 
for  the  improvement  of  the  Jewish  situation. 
Thus,  in  1870,  we  see  the  beginning  of  a  new 
Jewish  colonization  in  Palestine  by  the 
founding  of  an  agricultural  school,  Mikweh 
Israel,  which  is  followed  in  1878  by  the 
founding  of  the  colony  Petah  Tikwa,  and 
in  1882  by  the  colony  Rishon  Le-Zion. 

The  men  who  founded  these  colonies  were 
real  pioneers;  they  had  the  ideals  and  the 
courage  and  the  self-sacrifice  of  real  pio- 
neers, and  no  one  can  read  their  story  with- 

69 


out  marveling  at  their  endurance  and 
achievements.  It  was  their  valiant  struggle 
that  led  to  the  organization  of  the  Hoveve 
Zion  Societies  in  Russia  and  England  and 
other  countries.  It  also  gained  for  them  the 
support  of  the  Alliance  Israelite  Universelle, 
and  particularly  the  devoted  and  generous 
assistance  of  Baron  Edmond  de  Rothschild, 
whose  munificence  saved  the  movement  in  its 
most  critical  period.  As  a  result,  numerous 
sections  of  the  Holy  Land  have  been  re- 
claimed from  the  waste  of  centuries,  and 
there  were  before  the  War  prosperous  Jew- 
ish colonies  in  Judea,  in  Galilee,  and  beyond 
the  Jordan,  noted  for  the  bounty  and  variety 
of  their  products,  as  well  as  for  the  health 
and  happiness  of  their  inhabitants. 

It  is  customary  nowadays  to  give  credit 
for  all  this  renewal  of  Palestine  to  the  Zion- 
ists. Nor  does  it  matter  particularly  as  to 
who  gets  the  credit.  But  it  is  an  historic 
fact  that  Dr.  Herzl  conceived  the  idea  of  a 
Jewish  State  some  twenty-five  years  after 
the  first  Jewish  Agricultural  School  had 
been  founded  in  Palestine  and  Jewish  colon- 
ization had  begun.   And  it  is  further  an  his- 

70 


toric  fact  that  Dr.  Herzl  and  his  followers 
for  years  opposed  the  continuation  of  the 
colonizing  activity,  seeing  that  their  plan 
was  political  and  they  insisted  that  unless  the 
Jews  first  got  a  Charter  to  Palestine,  they 
must  not  go  on  with  the  reclamation  and  im- 
provement of  the  land. 

However,  it  would  lead  us  too  far  afield 
to  pursue  this  phase  of  the  subject.  Suffice 
to  say  that  it  was  the  political  emphasis  of 
the  Zionists,  coupled  with  the  anti-religious 
attitude  of  some  of  their  leaders,  that  served 
to  create  friction  in  Israel  and  to  alienate 
for  the  time  being  from  the  movement  for  the 
reclamation  of  Palestine  some  of  the  most 
devoted  lovers  of  the  Holy  Land. 

Latterly,  however,  the  practical  work  was 
taken  up  anew,  and  it  is  thanks  to  this  work, 
promoted  partly  by  some  prominent  men 
both  here  and  in  Europe  who  are  not  at  all 
votaries  of  political  Zionism,  that  Palestine 
has  witnessed  such  a  physical  and  spiritual 
renewal  at  the  hands  of  the  Jewish  people. 

What  the  War,  with  its  ravages,  has  done 
to  the  new  life  of  Palestine,  we  do  not  know 

7! 


as  yet.  But  it  is  natural  to  ask  what  the 
future  of  Palestine  shall  be.  The  British  army- 
is  now  going  forward  in  Palestine,  thus 
bringing  to  an  end  the  Turkish  rule  which 
began  just  four  hundred  years  ago,  when 
Sehm  I  conquered  Egypt  and  Syria.  It  is 
impossible  to  ignore  the  important  role  that 
Palestine  is  destined  to  play  in  the  future. 
Its  industrial  and  commercial  possibiHties 
are  enormous.  Now,  as  ever,  it  is  on  the  high- 
way connecting  Europe  with  Asia  and 
Africa.  With  the  increasing  importance  of 
the  East,  the  value  of  Palestine  is  bound  to 
grow. 

But  there  is  one  essential  condition :  Pales- 
tine needs  a  population.  And  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  none  would  form  so  fitting  a 
population  for  Palestine  as  Jews  eager  to 
go  there  and  eager  to  restore  the  sacred  soil. 

It  is  in  this  hght  that  we  ought  to  view 
Mr.  Balfour's  recent  declaration.  If  it 
proves  possible,  under  solemn  guarantees  of 
the  nations,  to  permit  Jews  to  settle  in  Pales- 
tine, and  to  live  there  in  security,  we  may  be 
sure  that  many  Jews  will  flock  thither,  and 
that  they  will  consecrate  aU  their  energies 

72 


to  the  restoration  of  the  land  so  dear  to  every 
true  Jewish  heart.  And  thus  Palestine  would 
not  only  become  again  an  important  factor 
in  Jewish  life;  it  would  become  again  a 
centre  of  material  and  spiritual  riches,  a  land 
flowing  as  of  old  with  milk  and  honey,  and  a 
stronghold  of  Justice  and  Righteousness, 
which  are  the  core  of  Democracy. 

For  that  end,  however,  we  ought  to  put  a 
stop  to  disputes  about  Zionism  and  anti- 
Zionism.  Particularly,  ought  we  to  put  a 
stop  to  such  controversies  carried  on  in  the 
name  of  Reform  Judaism.  Reform  Judaism 
is  not  bound  up  with  anti-Zionism,  or  anti- 
Palestinism.  Certainly  Reform  Judaism  is 
not,  and  never  can  be,  opposed  to  the  restora- 
tion of  Palestine.  Some  prominent  Reform 
rabbis  have  been  sincere  believers  in  even  the 
restoration  of  the  Jewish  State  in  Palestine, 
as,  for  instance,  Samuel  Hirsch,  one  of  the 
most  radical  of  Reform  rabbis,  who  as  far 
back  as  1842,  in  his  addresses  on  "The 
Messianic  Doctrine  of  the  Jews,"  dwelt  on 
that  belief  as  an  essential  part  of  Jewish  con- 
viction and  hope. 

73 


Some  others  have  refrained  from  engag- 
ing in  controversy  with  the  Zionists,  though 
whenever  necessary  they  have  not  failed  to 
maintain  against  them  these  three  essential 
propositions:  fii-st,  that  we  dare  not  mort- 
gage the  Jewish  future  to  a  Jewish  State  in 
Palestine;  secondly,  that  there  is  no  such 
thing  possible  as  a  Jewish  people  without 
Judaism;  and,  thirdly,  that  it  is  vn*ong  to 
assume  that  Judaism  cannot  flourish  outside 
of  Palestine.  But  all  this  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  restoration  of  Palestine  and  mak- 
ing it  a  centre  for  Israel  and  humanity,  if  we 
can  do  it. 

Let  us,  therefore,  for  once  reahze  that 
Israel  is  greater  than  Zionism,  and  Palestine 
more  important  than  parties.  Let  us  unite 
for  the  common  good!  It  is  because  of  divi- 
sions and  disputations,  the  rabbis  tell  us, 
Jerusalem  was  lost ;  let  us  not  permit  a  simi- 
lar cause  to  keep  us  from  restoring  it — I 
don't  mean  as  the  capital  of  a  Jewish  State, 
but  as  a  centre  of  Jewish  energy  and  revival. 
Let  us  work  toward  Jewish  unification, 
which,  the  rabbis  beheve,  must  precede  re- 
demption.   And  thus  let  us  help  secure  for 

74 


Palestine  also  the  benefits  of  that  democracy, 
that  rule  of  liberty  and  justice,  that  cause  of 
human  liberation  and  opportunity,  to  the 
triumph  of  which  America  has  pledged  so 
nobly  her  hfe  and  her  strength. 


75 


VI 

AMERICA  AND  THE  JEWS 

AMERICA  has  often  been  described  as 
the  land  of  opportunity  and  of  unHmited 
possibihties.  This  is  one  reason  why  since 
our  entry  into  the  War,  the  eyes  of  the 
whole  world  have  been  fixed  upon  us.  It  is 
certainly  true  that  to  no  group  of  people  has 
America  proved  more  truly  a  land  of  oppor- 
tunity than  to  the  Jews.  A  mere  svu'vey  of 
the  American  period  of  Jewish  history  is  suf- 
ficient to  convince  us  of  this,  and  such  a  sur- 
vey is  especially  appropriate  at  present  when 
the  history  of  the  world  is  being  recast  and 
remade,  and  the  future  destiny  of  both 
America  and  the  Jew  is  a  subject  of  frequent 
discussion. 

In  no  other  country  do  we  find  the  strands 
of  Jewish  history  so  intimately  and  con- 
tinually interwoven  with  the  general  fabric 
as  here  in  America.  This  is  due  partly  to  the 
newness  of  the  country  and  the  early  arrival 

77 


of  Jewish  settlers.  Even  in  the  study  of 
Palestine,  we  find  that  there  was  a  time 
when  it  contained  no  Jewish  inhabitants,  and 
various  strata  of  eivihzation  already  had  dis- 
appeared when  the  Jews  took  possession.  As 
for  America,  however,  the  Jew's  activity  is 
co-extensive  with  the  history  of  her  eivihza- 
tion. 

I  shall  not  dwell  here  on  the  well-known 
fact  that  Jews  were  associated  with  Colum- 
bus in  his  voyage  of  discovery,  that  Jews 
supported  his  enterprise  financially  and 
scientifically,  and  that  a  Marrano  Jew  is  said 
to  have  been  the  first  member  of  Colum- 
bus's crew  to  step  on  the  soil  of  the  New 
World.  But  it  is  certain  that  from  the  very 
days  of  the  discovery,  Jews  became  frequent 
on  the  American  continent,  first  in  South 
and  Central  America,  and  later  on  in  North 
America. 

The  finding  of  the  New  World  offered 
timely  compensation  for  the  expulsion  from 
Spain,  and  Israel  lost  no  time  in  transferring 
his  genius  for  enterprise  and  continuity, 
both  material  and  spiritual,  to  the  new  field 
so  providentially  opened. 

78 


By  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
we  see  the  beginnings  of  Jewish  migration  to 
North  America,  owing  primarily  to  vicissi- 
tudes of  war  in  South  America,  and  as  that 
was  the  time  when  Enghsh  civihzation  began 
to  estabhsh  itself  here,  the  form  of  civihza- 
tion destined  to  remain  permanent,  we  can 
see  with  what  right  we  may  speak  of 
the  continuity  of  Jewish  history  in  our 
Repubhc. 

It  is  true  that  the  number  of  Jews  at  first 
was  small,  but  before  long  their  influence 
and  service  transcended  their  proportions. 
During  the  Revolution,  there  were  only 
about  two  thousand  Jews  in  the  Colonies; 
yet,  some  of  them  had  become  so  prominent, 
that  their  help  was  not  inconsiderable,  and 
in  several  instances  of  conspicuous  and  un- 
forgettable merit.  We  know,  for  example, 
that  Washington  had  an  aide  who  was  a  Jew, 
Isaac  Franks,  that  one  of  the  earhest  officers 
of  our  Navy  was  a  Jew,  Uriah  Levy,  and  that 
a  Jew,  Haym  Salomon,  an  immigrant  from 
Poland,  helped  the  Revolution  financially, 
aside  from  what  similar  help  he  extended  to 
some  of  the  heroes  of  the  Revolution  indi- 

79 


vidually,  thus  rendering  it  easier  for  them  to 
do  their  share  of  the  common  task.  Aside 
from  what  these  instances  may  mean  in 
themselves,  they  are  important  for  the  hght 
they  throw  on  the  rapidity  with  which  Jew- 
ish settlers  made  their  way  in  this  country, 
on  the  completeness  of  their  civil  and  politi- 
cal assimilation,  and  on  their  public  promi- 
nence in  the  early  days  of  American  history. 

What  progress  the  Jew  has  made  in 
America  since  those  days,  he  who  runs  may 
read.  On  the  material  side,  she  certainly  has 
become  a  land  of  promise  to  millions  of  Jews. 
Gradually  the  Jewish  population  has  grown 
to  its  present  dimensions.  During  the  nine- 
teenth century  the  original  immigration  from 
mainly  Sephardic  sources,  with  an  admixture 
from  Poland,  was  supplemented  by  a  wave 
of  migration  from  German  provinces.  In  the 
latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  finally, 
the  intense  persecutions  in  Eastern  Europe 
poured  enormous  waves  of  migration  onto 
these  shores.  As  a  result  of  these  successive 
movements  of  people,  unprecedented  in  some 
respects  in  human  history,  milUons  of  Jews 

80 


have  settled  in  our  Republic,  and,  on  the 
material  side  at  least,  it  has  become  to  them 
a  veritable  land  of  promise. 

In  all  departments  of  Mfe  the  Jew  has 
prospered.  It  may  be  questioned  whether 
ever  in  the  past  he  has  been  blessed  with 
such  success.  While  it  is  erroneous  to  as- 
sume, as  some  people  do,  that  all  Jews  are 
rich,  or  that  the  richest  men  are  Jews  (as- 
sumptions which  are  contradicted  by  facts), 
it  is  true  that  nowhere  else  have  the  Jewish 
people  been  given  such  an  unhampered  op- 
portunity for  advancement  and  such  an  un- 
restricted field  of  work  and  usefulness. 

As  a  result,  Jews  are  found  in  every 
sphere  of  work,  in  every  honorable  and  use- 
ful occupation.  In  commerce,  in  the  liberal 
and  practical  professions,  in  all  the  various 
forms  of  industry,  the  American  Jew  is 
found,  and  many  have  achieved  eminent  suc- 
cess. No  longer  can  it  be  said,  as  they  were 
wont  to  say  of  old,  that  the  Jew  is  nothing 
but  a  usurer  or  a  trader.  In  America  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  Jews  work  with  their 
hands,  there  are  numerous  trade  unions  en- 
tirely composed  of  Jews,  and  nothing  is 

81 


more  significant  in  this  regard  than  that  the 
President  of  the  American  Federation  of 
Labor  for  years  has  been  a  Jew  (at  least,  a 
man  born  a  Jew) . 

It  used  to  be  said  that  the  Jew  will  not  be 
a  farmer.  Even  if  elsewhere  the  Jew  had  not 
disproved  this  assertion,  he  has  done  so  on 
American  soil,  where  numerous  Jewish  fam- 
ihes  have  settled  on  farms  and  demonstrated 
their  fitness  to  succeed  even  under  adverse 
conditions. 

What  America  has  done  for  the  material 
progress  of  millions  of  Jews  is  one  of  the 
marvels  of  history — a  marvel  augmented  by 
the  moral  transformation  which  has  accom- 
panied the  process.  Men,  who  for  generations 
had  been  hounded  and  haunted  by  persecu- 
tion, who  had  been  engrafted  with  all  the 
moral  evils  of  persecution,  who  had  been 
humihated  and  all  but  crushed — millions 
of  such  men  by  the  Hberty  and  humanity 
of  America  have  been  freed  from  the 
old  chains,  purged  of  the  old  stains, 
turned  into  free,  strong,  courageous,  self-re- 
liant, and  self-respecting  human  beings.  For 
this  transformation  we  can  never  be  suffi- 

82 


ciently  thankful,  as  it  must  ever  continue  to 
excite  the  admiration  and  the  wonder  of  the 
world. 

But  the  spiritual  achievements  of  the  Jew 
in  America  have  been  no  less  significant. 

Now  and  then  on  this  score  we  hear  la- 
ments. Material  progress,  we  are  told,  has 
occurred  in  American  Israel  at  the  expense 
of  his  spiritual  hfe,  and  lurid  pictures  are 
drawn  of  our  spiritual  estate.  It  is  even 
maintained  that  there  is  no  hope  for  us 
spiritually  in  America,  and  that  for  this  pur- 
pose we  must  turn  our  eyes  to  other  parts. 

Let  us  not  forget,  however,  that  spiritual 
pessimism  is  nothing  new,  whether  among 
Jews  or  non- Jews.  There  have  always  been 
men  who  have  thought  their  own  time  and 
place  to  be  the  worst-off  spiritually  in  his- 
tory. The  student  of  history  and  Hterature 
finds  many  such  resemblances  through  the 
centuries,  and  there  is  nothing  said  about 
our  present-day  spiritual  and  moral  degene- 
ration that  might  not  be  paralleled  in  the 
hterature  of  previous  generations,  to  which 

83 


we  sometimes  look  back  as  the  very  embodi- 
ment of  virtue  and  spirituality. 

But  pessimism  apart — nor  is  self-criticism 
altogether  undesirable — we  may  say  that 
spiritually  also  the  Jew  in  America  has 
achieved  no  mean  things.  The  very  fact  that 
we  have  succeeded  in  transplanting  Judaism 
to  this  country,  so  different  from  the  Old 
World,  is  an  achievement  of  importance. 
And  the  transplanting  has  been  rapid. 
There  have  been  losses,  quite  naturally,  but 
there  have  been  gains,  too,  and,  whatever  is 
said  to  the  contrary,  there  is  an  intense  and 
manifold  Jewish  activity  in  this  country  to- 
day unsurpassed  anywhere  else,  though  per- 
haps only  the  historian  of  the  future  will 
acknowledge  it,  just  as  our  historians  today 
laud  the  glories  of  the  past. 

When  we  think  of  our  educational  institu- 
tions, of  our  Rabbinical  colleges,  of  our  his- 
torical associations,  of  our  synagogues,  of 
such  an  achievement  as  the  Jewish  Encyclo- 
pedia and  its  counterpart  in  the  Hebrew 
language,  and  many  other  enterprises,  we 
cannot  help  but  wonder  that  in  so  short  a 
time  the  Jews  of  America  should  have  done 

84 


as  much  as  they  have  in  the  spiritual  sphere, 
particularly  when  we  recall  that  the  last  half- 
century  was  a  period  of  sceptism  and  materi- 
alism, which  put  all  ReMgion  on  the  defen- 
sive, and  which  made  the  course  of  Judaism 
in  this  country,  and  the  process  of  re-adjust- 
ment, so  much  more  difficult  than  it  might 
have  been. 

It  is  this  spiritual  and  material  advance  of 
the  American  Jew  that  has  made  it  possible 
for  him  time  and  again  to  come  to  the  rescue 
of  his  fellow-Jews  in  other  countries.  It 
would  take  us  too  far  afield  to  go  into  detail. 
But  no  survey  of  the  connection  of  America 
with  the  Jew  is  adequate  without  at  least  a 
reminder  of  how  America  championed  the 
rights  of  her  Jewish  citizens  in  Switzerland 
and  Russia,  and  of  how  she  intervened  in  be- 
half of  persecuted  Jews  in  Damascus  and  in 
Morocco,  in  Rumania  and  in  Russia. 

When  the  history  of  the  emancipation  of 
the  Jews  is  written,  a  place  of  honor  surely 
will  be  accorded  to  the  help  rendered  by 
America,  through  some  of  her  foremost  and 
most  humane  statesmen,  from  Theodore  Fay 

85 


to  John  Hay,  and  through  the  energy  and 
self-sacrifice  of  her  Jewish  citizens. 

Nor  would  our  survey  be  sufficient  without 
a  reference  to  the  .patriotism  of  the  Amer- 
ican Jew.  If  the  patriotism  of  the  Jew  has 
been  proved  in  every  country,  nowhere  has 
it  been  more  ardent  and  ready  than  here. 
We  know  the  early  story  of  Asser  Levy  who 
insisted  on  his  right  to  stand  guard  like 
every  other  citizen  of  New  Amsterdam, 
rather  than  be  exempted  and  taxed.  He  is 
the  patriotic  prototype  of  the  American  Jew 
in  every  age  and  crisis,  in  peace  and  in  war. 
Whoever  doubts  the  patriotism  of  the  Amer- 
ican Jew,  does  not  know  him.  And  never 
was  the  Jew  of  America  more  ready  than  to- 
day to  do  his  patriotic  duty,  to  make  all  the 
sacrifices  demanded  by  the  hour,  to  stand 
guard  for  the  Republic  and  for  Democracy. 
This  he  has  shown  already,  and  is  going  to 
continue  to  show,  as  the  War  sroes  on. 


fc>' 


A  word  about  the  future.  Now  and  then 
questions  are  asked  about  the  future  of  the 
Jew  in  America.  Will  he  live  on?  Will  he 
continue  in  his  present  fortunate  condition? 

86 


We  hear  murmurs  about  a  nascent  anti-Se- 
mitism, and  what  not.  To  all  these  questions 
there  is  but  one  answer:  It  depends  upon 
ourselves!  Let  us  think  of  the  noble  words 
of  George  Washington  in  his  reply  to  the 
address  presented  to  him  by  the  Jewish 
community  of  Newport  in  the  year  1790. 
"It  is  no  more,"  he  said,  "that  toleration  is 
spoken  of,  as  if  it  were  by  the  indulgence  of 
one  class  of  people  that  another  enjoyed  the 
exercise  of  their  inherent  natural  rights.  For 
happily  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  which  gives  to  bigotry  no  sanction, 
to  persecution  no  assistance,  requires  only 
that  they  who  live  under  its  protection 
should  demean  themselves  as  good  citizens, 
in  giving  it  on  all  occasions  their  effectual 
support." 

The  Jew  has  nothing  to  fear  from  anti- 
Semitism  in  America.  It  amounts  to  noth- 
ing, except  in  so  far  as  we  help  create  it. 
What  counts  is  our  own  life  and  what 
we  do  for  the  maintenance  of  democracy  in 
America  and  elsewhere.  As  long  as  we  do 
our  duty,  as  long  as  we  remain  true  to  the 
best  moral  and  spiritual  traditions  of  the 

87 


Jew,  as  long  as  we  stand  for  the  noblest 
ideals  of  citizenship,  and  as  long  as  America 
remains  what  her  founders  designed  and 
dreamed  her  to  be — the  home  and  the  hope 
of  democracy — so  long  the  Jew  will  be  safe 
for  America  and  America  will  be  safe  for 
the  Jew! 


88 


VII 

THE  WAR,  THE  JEW,  AND  THE 
FUTURE 

ONE  of  the  chief  benefits  of  the  study  of 
the  past  is  that  it  throws  hght  on  the 
problems  of  the  present  and  helps  us  to  fore- 
cast the  future.  This  is  why  during  the  ter- 
rible struggle  that  has  been  going  on,  so 
many  of  us  have  turned  to  the  records  of  his- 
tory for  help  and  direction.  It  is  no  less  true 
of  our  Jewish  history.  When  we  engage  in 
a  survey  of  it,  and  especially  in  a  study  of  its 
course  in  the  aUied  countries,  it  is  not  merely 
for  the  piu'pose  of  refreshing  our  memories 
of  what  happened  in  days  gone  by,  but  also 
in  order  to  learn  what  we  might  expect  to 
happen  in  the  future  and  to  be  fortified  in 
our  duty  today.  "Universal  History,"  says 
Lord  Acton,  "is  not  a  rope  of  sand  but  a 
continuous  development;  not  a  bm'den  on 
memory,  but  an  illumination  of  the  soul." 

The  survey  of  the  course  of  Jewish  history 
convinces  us,  first  of  all,  that  nothing  has 

89 


been  so  helpful  and  profitable  to  the  Jew  as 
the  progress  of  democracy.  From  of  old 
Jewish  progress  and  democracy  have  gone 
hand  in  hand.  Every  now  and  then  we  hear 
people  complain  that  the  Jew  is  not  demo- 
cratic. This  has  as  much  truth  in  it  as  the 
ofl:*-hand  charge  that  the  Jew  is  not  patriotic 
or  not  ideaHstic.  It  is  a  generahty  unsup- 
ported by  the  facts. 

Much  more  true  it  is  to  say  that  the  genius 
of  Judaism  has  from  the  first  been  essentially 
democratic,  and  that  it  expressed  itself  in 
democratic  institutions  and  personalities 
even  in  remote  antiquity,  when  the  world  at 
large  was  predominantly  aristocratic.  The 
Decalogue  was  a  democratic  code.  The 
Torah  was  democratic  in  form  and  ideal. 
And  no  gi'oup  of  men  ever  were  more  repre- 
sentative of  democracy  in  every  way — in 
origin,  conduct,  and  purpose — than  the  Jew- 
ish prophets. 

No  one  can  consider  these  fundamental 
facts  of  Jewish  history,  and  what  followed 
from  them,  without  reahzing  the  justice  of 
the  afiirmation  that  the  Jewish  genius  has 
been  essentially  democratic  and  that  it  has 

90 


made  important  contributions  to  the  ad- 
vance of  democracy  in  the  world. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  progress  of  dem- 
ocracy has  made  everywhere  for  the  advance- 
ment and  appreciation  of  the  Jew ;  and  this 
is  one  of  the  most  valuable  and  encouraging 
lessons  we  gain  from  a  study  of  the  past. 
In  France,  in  England,  in  Italy,  in  Russia, 
in  America — everywhere  the  promotion  of 
the  democratic  spirit  and  law  are  followed, 
sooner  or  later,  often  promptly,  by  removal 
of  Jewish  disabihties  and  recognition  of  the 
rights  and  powers  of  the  Jew.  A  country,  or 
a  leader,  could  not  be  democratic  and  fail 
sooner  or  later  to  acknowledge  what  was  due 
to  the  Jew.  This  is  why  all  champions  of 
democracy  were  advocates  of  the  rights  of 
the  Jews — Montesquieu  and  Mirabeau, 
Cromwell  and  Macauley,  Cavour  and  Maz- 
zini,  Uvaroff  and  Milyukoff,  Washington, 
and  every  other  pioneer  and  hero  of  demo- 
cracy. Gladstone  in  his  early  days  was  op- 
posed to  the  removal  of  Jewish  disabilities, 
but  as  a  Hberal,  he  was  certain  finally  to 
turn  to  the  right  view,  the  only  view  com- 

91 


patible  with  the  ideals  of  justice  and  hberty, 
which  are  at  the  core  of  every  democratic 
•  f eehng  and  force. 

What  follows  ?  It  follows  as  the  night  the 
day  that  the  Jew  has  a  perfect  right  to  look 
to  democracy  for  a  fm*ther  vindication  of  his 
rights  and  his  place  in  the  world — to  hope 
that  the  more  certain  and  secm'e  the  futm*e 
of  democracy  in  the  world,  the  more 
certain  and  secure  shall  be  the  future  of  the 
Jew.  Some  superficial  and  servile  people 
may  contend  that  it  does  not  matter  what 
kind  of  government  a  country  has,  or  under 
what  kind  of  government  we  Hve;  the 
student  of  history  knows  that  it  does  matter, 
that  the  difference  is  vital,  and  if  not  appar- 
ent at  any  particular  moment,  certainly  clear 
as  the  sun  in  the  course  of  time. 

Triumphant  democracy  will  lead  to  full 
recognition  of  the  citizenship  of  the  Jew  in 
every  country.  Apart  from  basic  principles, 
what  the  Jew  has  done  during  the  War  can- 
not fail  to  earn  for  him  such  citizen  recog- 
nition and  complete  incorporation  in  the  sev- 
eral nations  that  are  now  fighting  for  hfe 

92 


and  liberty.  The  Jew  has  always  been  a 
patriot,  but  his  patriotic  devotion,  service, 
and  self-sacrifice  shown  in  the  present  War 
has  never  been  sui'passed  and  in  point  of 
magnitude  and  scope  never  equaled.  The 
effect  of  it  will  be  the  abatement  of  anti- 
Jewish  prejudice  and  suspicion,  increased 
respect  for  the  Jew,  and  complete  recogni- 
tion of  his  position  and  rights  as  a  citizen 
everywhere. 

Maurice  Barres,  a  former  anti-Semite,  has 
called  attention  to  this  effect  that  the  War 
has  ah-eady  had  in  France ;  but  it  is  destined 
to  produce  the  same  effect  in  every  country 
in  which  the  end  of  the  War  will  make  for 
the  triumph  of  democracy. 

Democracy,  however,  means  not  only 
recognition,  but  also  responsibihty,  duty  as 
well  as  rights,  service  as  well  as  privilege. 
Jewish  history  teaches  nothing  so  clearly  as 
that  the  Jew  has  persisted  not  so  much  be- 
cause of  what  the  world  has  done  for  him,  as 
because  of  what  he  has  done  for  the  world. 
The  Jew  has  served.  Through  light  and 
gloom,  amid  flood  and  flame,  in  days  happy 

93 


or  adverse,  the  Jew  has  served.  He  has 
toiled  for  mankind.  Ebed  Adonay — God's 
servant,  he  was  called  by  the  ancient  Pro- 
phet; and  such  he  has  been — God's  servant 
among  men,  with  whose  bruises  others  were 
healed,  and  by  whose  afflictions  others  were 
taught  and  ennobled. 

This  is  why  when  Democracy  finally  arose 
and  demanded  the  freedom  of  the  Jew,  there 
could  be  no  doubt  as  to  his  merit  and  his 
right.  And  in  the  future,  too,  the  Jew  will 
have  to  continue  to  serve  and  to  bestow  upon 
the  world  those  benefits  for  which  he  was 
created. 

It  is  foolish  to  think  that  the  Jew's  pro- 
blem can  be  solved  in  terms  merely  of  happi- 
ness and  comfort  for  himself.  Not  for  that 
was  he  created.  It  can  be  solved  in  terms 
only  of  service — of  service  to  the  world! 
The  Jew  will  never  be  able  to  run  away  from 
recognition  of  this  fact,  which  is  of  the  very 
essence  of  his  soul  and  his  existence. 

With  the  coming  of  his  complete  recogni- 
tion as  citizen,  will  come  the  increased  spirit- 
ual responsibility  of  the  Jew.  Not  only  will 
he  have  to  take  part  in  the  political  and 
economic  reshaping  of  the  world.    He  will 

94 


have  to  justify  his  spiritual  isolation  or  sep- 
arateness.  He  will  be  called  upon  to  make 
his  Rehgion,  his  peculiar  spiritual  ideal, 
count  in  that  spiritual  and  religious  recon- 
struction which  the  world  will  need  after  the 
War. 

Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead?  Has  the  Jew's 
Rehgion  nothing  to  contribute  to  the  heahng 
of  mankind's  spiritual  wounds?  If  so,  the 
days  of  his  Rehgion  are  numbered.  But  if 
it  has,  as  we  proclaim  it  has,  then  the 
Jew  will  have  his  part  to  play,  and  his  duty 
to  perform,  when  upon  the  coming  of  peace 
mankind  starts  to  set  up  again  the  fallen 
tabernacles — enters  upon  the  process  of  re- 
Hgious  and  spiritual  reconstruction. 

And  this  duty  and  part  the  Jew  will  have 
not  in  one  corner  only — not  in  one  only  se- 
cluded, far-off  spot,  but  everywhere,  in  the 
midst  of  the  world,  amid  the  storm  and  stress 
of  the  world's  hfe,  amid  the  agony  of  human 
suffering  and  need,  where  every  other  Reli- 
gion will  be  at  work,  and  men  will  be  en- 
gaged in  the  momentous  tasks  of  rebuilding 
and  rejuvenation. 

There  are  those  who  indulge  in  the  sweet, 
idyUic  dream  of  the  Jew  departing  from  the 

95 


common  strife  of  mankind  and  betaking 
himself  to  Zion,  and  there,  amid  bucohc  sur- 
roundings, developing  into  a  spiritual  entity 
the  like  of  which  has  never  been  on  land  or 
sea.  A  pleasant  dream,  this !  But  history  is 
against  it.  History  shows  that  although  the 
classical  period  of  the  Jew  lay  in  Palestine, 
since  then  the  Jewish  genius  has  flourished 
and  produced  its  best  fruits  in  lands  other 
than  Palestine. 

It  is  idle  to  expect  reproductions  of  class- 
ical periods.  The  very  contact  with  the  rest 
of  the  world,  the  very  friction  with  other 
men's  thoughts,  the  very  variety  of  environ- 
ment, has  made  for  the  vitality  and  versa- 
tihty  of  Israel's  genius.  And  in  the  future, 
also,  it  is  in  the  world  at  large  that  the  Jew 
will  be  called  upon  to  serve,  and  to  prove  his 
capacity  and  his  commission  as  a  factor  in 
the  spiritual  advancement  and  the  moral  up- 
building of  the  human  race. 

This  is  not  to  say  that  there  may  not  or  shall 
not  be  a  new  centre  of  Jewish  life  and  glory 
in  the  old  land  of  Israel's  fathers,  in  Pales- 
tine. On  the  contrary,  we  all  pray  there  may 
be!    Every  loyal  Jewish  heart  is  bound  to 

96 


Palestine,  and  no  true  Jew  but  wants  to  see 
it  restored  and  renewed  as  a  place  of  beauty 
and  of  joy.  If  upon  the  close  of  the  War, 
Jews,  under  proper  guarantees,  are  allowed 
to  settle  in  Palestine  as  a  matter  of  right  and 
not  merely  as  a  favor,  let  us  hope  that  those 
who  migrate  there,  directed  by  necessity  or 
idealism,  will  find  their  heart's  desire  and 
will  develop  a  life  of  which  the  world  and 
the  Jew  might  be  justly  proud.  Toward  the 
securing  of  such  safeguards  we  ought  all  to 
work  together.  It  must  form  one  of  the 
fruits  of  the  War. 

But  to  think  that  the  resettlement  or  re- 
construction of  Palestine  is  going  to  dispose 
of  the  universal  Jewish  problem,  is  a  chimera. 
We  need  but  think  of  the  difficulties  that  will 
surround  the  new  settlement,  difficulties  of  a 
political  and  religious,  as  well  as  of  an  eco- 
nomic, character — of  the  small  number  of 
Jews  the  country  will  be  able  to  absorb,  of 
the  many  years  it  will  take  before  Palestine 
can  support  in  comfort  as  many  as  even  a 
million  Jews — ^we  need  but  think  of  the  large 
number  of  Jews  who  do  not  believe  in  the 
formation  of  a  separate  Jewish  nation,  to 

97 


realize  that  they  who  assume  that  the  crea- 
tion of  a  new  centre,  and  particularly  of  a 
Jewish  State,  in  Palestine  would  wholly 
solve  the  Jewish  problem,  feed  on  flowers  of 
phantasy. 

The  Jew's  place  is  in  the  world  at  large, 
the  world  now  engaged  in  the  most  moment- 
ous struggle  of  history,  and  in  the  world  at 
large  he  will  have  to  show  that  capacity  for 
service  which  will  justify  his  past  and  make 
his  future  secure  and  glorious ! 

In  such  a  spirit  let  us  dedicate  ourselves 
to  the  defense  of  democracy  and  the  cham- 
pionship of  Judaism.  In  such  a  spirit  let  us 
bear  the  burdens  of  the  War.  Many  of  our 
dear  ones  are  engaged  in  the  actual  combat. 
Let  us  take  pride  in  their  sacrifices !  Let  us 
call  those  blessed  who  shall  outlive  this  com- 
bat and  be  allowed  a  part  in  the  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  future.  May  they  help  in  the  pro- 
motion of  democracy,  in  the  perpetuation  of 
Judaism,  in  the  advancement  of  those  forces 
of  liberty,  justice,  and  brotherhood  which 
are  destined  some  day  to  bring  peace  and 
joy  and  good- will  to  the  world! 

98 


121101    _ 

Unlwrrtty  o»  C.|«°S?Y  f  ^clLlTY  1 

SOUTHERN  BEeiONALUWAB.^  ^^^,3,, 

405  Hll9.nl  ^'^■^S^o  «»  '"^'* 

WDREC'flY^O^lkl9  2003 


A     000  716  119     3 


J 


Univer 

Soul 

Lib 


